the Wooden Sky takes NxEW's Shadow Polaris

After 3 rounds of voting and thousands of votes the winner of NxEW's 2nd annual Shadow Polaris is Toronto's the Wooden Sky.

When Julie Doiron took our first Shadow Polaris there was no need to do much of an introduction, anyone who has followed Canadian music for the last decade or two so knows who Julie is. The Wooden Sky however is a bit different. Everyone I've talked to who is even slightly interested in singer/songwriter, folk, country or roots music loved "If I Don't Come Home, You'll Know I'm Gone" and it did manage to make the Polaris Long List (the real one) but it didn't seem to break out much beyond those circles.

So, if you need an introduction or an introduction, the Wooden Sky was born when Gavin Gardiner wrote songs for a school project at Ryerson University. If I Don't Come Home, You'll Know I'm Gone is the second full length album following 2007's When Lost At Sea. There is also an EP Bedroom's + Backstreets and the band contributed songs to Friends in Bellwoods and Friends in Bellwoods II..

I won't attempt to review an album that just won our fan voting for album of the year. I don't really see a point in doing so, but if you would like to read a few reviews you can find some good ones at Chartattack, Chromewaves, Snobs Music, Herohill and Torontoist and you can find more from NxEW's spotlight on the Wooden Sky from November, 2009.

You can also find more about the band on Facebook, Myspace, CBC Radio 3 and Twitter.

Congratulations to Gavin Gardiner, the Wooden Sky and all of our Shadow Polaris nominees.