Entertainment

Feist, Arcade Fire on long list for U.S. emerging artist prize

Canadian singer Feist and Montreal's Arcade Fire are among 54 artists being considered for the Shortlist Music Prize, a U.S. award for artists considered under-appreciated by a jury of music aficionados.

Canadian singer Feist and Montreal's Arcade Fire are among54 artists being considered for the Shortlist Music Prize, a U.S.award for artists considered under-appreciated by a jury of music aficionados.

Montreal indie pop band Stars, originally formed in Toronto by Torquil Campbell, also is in contention for its 2007 album In Our Bedroom After the War.

Leslie Feist, a singer who began in Calgary punk band Placebo whoalso was a member of Broken Social Scene, is nominated for The Reminder.

The singer, who now spends most of her time in France, recorded the album in a 200-year-old mansion overlooking the Seine.

The Arcade Fire, formed in 2003 by the husband and wife team Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, have been nominated for Neon Bible, their second album.

The list also includes Bjork's Volta, Eddie Vedder's Into the Wild soundtrack, PJ Harvey's White Chalk, Wilco's Sky Blue Sky and Klaxons's Myths of the Near Future.

Albums are eligible only if they have sold fewer than 500,000 copies in the U.S.

This year's list makers for the Shortlist Organization are Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody, the Killers' Ronnie Vannucci, journalist Rev. Moose, DJ Chris Douridas and the hosts of Hunnypot Internet Radio.

Last year's prize, created in 2001 as a way to draw attention to deserving artists who don't have a large commercial following, was handed outto Cat Power's The Greatest last June.