WATCH AND SHARE “ST. PETER’S BAY” HERE
THE “REMARKABLE” NEW ALBUM IS HARMER’S FIRST IN A DECADE OUT NOW VIA ARTS & CRAFTS
BUY / STREAM ARE YOU GONE HERE
"one of the most accomplished and affecting albums in her already remarkable catalogue" Exclaim! 9/10
“Harmer’s greatest strength is in her vocal conviction and clarity.” Bandcamp
“she unfurls the most gorgeous melody of the album, if not her entire career.” - on “Just Get Here” The Boston Globe
“Are You Gone is a journey across time, place, learning, and loss that Sarah Harmer is an incredibly gracious guide to take us on” Folk Alley
"An artist long appreciated for her ability to survey a scene and describe it with such poetic clarity has honed her lyrical sensibilities even further.” Analogue
“a folky, minor-key song about ice skating at night, with a gentle vocal and a sturdy melody, that maps a precarious relationship onto the wintry conditions. “ on St. Peter’s Bay New York Times
Photo Credit : Vanessa Heins // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
The video for "St. Peter's Bay", off Sarah Harmer's acclaimed new album, Are You Gone, is out now. Billboard says it is “certainly chilling as Harmer treks around the island, ice skates and sits in front of a small campfire.”
A swirling, expansive piano-and-guitar song about the grief at the end of a relationship (written while Sarah was on her way to a "Hockey Day" gig - The New York Times deadpanned in their write-up of the track, "How Canadian is this?"), the self-directed video takes viewers on a trip to the frozen, real-life St. Peter's Bay, for a cathartic last skate.
"I made this with filmmaker Josh Lyon,” says Harmer. “We hopped a late afternoon ferry to an island in the St Lawrence River and caught a brief window of mild weather and a bit of sun. For me this story takes place in a simpler time, when word was sent ‘on the wires of woodsmoke’ and ice was sure to freeze from one shore to another. The pain of ending a relationship is familiar in any era, and the vastness of the landscape in the middle of the river speaks to that timelessness.”
WATCH AND SHARE “ST. PETER’S BAY” HERE
Out now via Arts & Crafts, Are You Gone is a deeply personal and political collection of songs motivated by the beauty of life, the urgency of the climate crisis, and the question of loss. Sarah called the album a spiritual successor of sorts to her acclaimed 2000 debut, You Were Here, which made many year-end critics’ lists, and which TIME called the year’s best debut album. Its simple title, Are You Gone, is a meditation on the idea of presence, and a bookend to the questions posed on You Were Here - a sharpened, more electric confrontation with the realities of nature and human nature.
WATCH AND SHARE SARAH HARMER’S CBC FIRST PLAY LIVE PERFORMANCE HERE
LISTEN AND SHARE SARAH HARMER’S CBC q PERFORMANCE HERE
The result of an unshakeable inclination to make music in conflict with a lifestyle more attuned to privacy, quiet, and activism, Sarah wrote Are You Gone gradually over the last decade as she traded music for grassroots organizing as her “day job.” Between co-founding the citizen’s organization PERL (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land) and leading the coalition’s successful efforts to prevent a quarry from being built on the Niagara Escarpment, she became a fixture in local politics and advocacy, while keeping her musical chops fresh by writing and playing casually with friends. Finally, in 2019, while pondering the “ghosts” of loss, capitalism’s gluttony and music’s potential as a public platform, Sarah got to work on Are You Gone, her most sophisticated record to date.
WATCH AND SHARE SARAH HARMER’S NPR WORLD CAFE SESSIONS HERE
Encompassing a stylistic range from barebones folk to layered indie rock, album opener “St. Peter’s Bay” blends melancholic vocals and smooth atmospherics to effectively conjure the feeling of standing at dusk overlooking an endless sea, while “Take Me Out” is a modern, punchy alt-rock take on the near impossibility of letting go. “What I Was to You” is a tribute to Harmer’s lifelong friend Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip, and psychedelic-tinged piano ballad “The Lookout” tackles the angst of love-across-timezones. Penultimate track “Shoemaker”, about Sarah discovering an old book and census of her great great Glaswegian grandfather, calls to mind the gently ominous, slowly shifting chords of Sparklehorse before transforming into a gorgeous, almost-crescendoing show of Sarah’s vocal range. “See Her Wave” wraps the album with an acoustic goodbye written in memoriam to another friend who moved on.
WATCH AND SHARE “NEW LOW” LYRIC VIDEO HERE
Sarah has performed on The Late Show with David Letterman, Ellen, has been nominated for the Polaris Music Prize, garnered nine JUNO Award nominations and two wins, and been widely praised for her “razor-sharp songwriting chops” (NPR Music) and “plainly hooky” melodic sensibility (Rolling Stone).
Recently, due to the current global pandemic, Harmer has decided to postpone all of her upcoming tour dates. She issued this statement on the decision :
“After planning our upcoming tour for the past many months it is now clear that the prudent thing to do is to reschedule our spring dates to a time in the hopefully near future when the threat of the COVID-19 virus has passed. My band and I are sooo looking forward to making music for you when we can all come together safely and celebrate. We plan to honour all of the tickets at rescheduled shows. Please hold on to your tickets and we will share the revised plans as soon as possible. I have been really looking forward to this tour and of course I’m bummed it will have to wait a little longer. I’m sorry if this throws a wrench into your plans.
Signing off in solidarity with all the organizers out there who want to do what’s best to look after each other and our healthcare workers right now. Please take care and see you before long.”