“Math rock” band Angine de Poitrine seems to be everywhere now: the Saguenay, Québec duo won two prestigious Polaris prizes on Sept. 22, and recently appeared on the United States-based Tonight Show and other international venues.

The Polaris Prize honours important Canadian music and is adjudicated by over 200 critics and curators. Angine de Poitrine won both the album and song prizes. The latter is jointly awarded by Polaris and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada.

The band became a viral sensation in early 2026 and has been performing sold-out shows around the globe.

A significant part of the attention they have garnered is due to their outlandish stage presence and self-described status as an “anonymous art project” — guitarist “Khn” and drummer “Klek” wear polka-dotted outfits and giant papier mâché heads in the guise of being alien rock stars.

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But the band’s music, which features microtonal melodies, dense, elaborately constructed textures and wonky, complex rhythms, has also captured the attention of a legion of music fans.

Just as the duo has dominated social media and the summer concert circuit, iconic Canadian progressive rock power trio Rush has been on a much-hyped, epic global reunion tour, marking almost 50 years in the music industry. Does their popularity suggest, improbably, that we are witnessing a progressive rock renaissance?

Emergence of ‘prog rock’

In the late 1960s, shaped by developments in psychedelic rock especially, progressive rock (or “prog”) emerged as a rejection of commercial pop and blues-based rock music, borrowing........

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