It's Harmer Time

Sarah Harmer is a well-known Canadian singer but I am not particularly familiar with her music. I thought she did a great job singing a few covers at Andy Kim's Christmas show so I went down to the Garrison Common to see a free show with her Saturday night.

To celebrate Canada's victory in the War of 1812, there was a free concert down at the heritage site of Fort York. It was a good line-up of acts but with the unrelenting heat I couldn't muster the energy to drag myself down there. But Sarah was the last act at 9 pm, after sunset, so the temperature would be more bearable.

Odd how there are places in Toronto I have never visited. Fort York had an old-timey feel and reminded me of Upper Canada Village. It didn't have full-fledge medieval trappings of the Fortress of Louisbourg but the old homes, raised embankment, and strategically placed cannons were evocative in the falling dusk.

Garrison Common is a field just past Fort York itself, and she was about to take the stage when I arrived. For the first 6 songs (The City, Around This Corner, Pendulum, One Match, Almost, Silver Road), I admired her poetical lyrics but felt that the songs were too much "adult contemporary". It was mildly disappointing until she went to a stripped down set-up: only her on acoustic guitar, and sometimes accompanied by a stringed bass or electric guitar, that her songs soared. Without the bland arrangement, I Am Aglow, Oleander, Uniform Grey (with guest Kathleen Edwards) resonated with a timeless quality. She ended her set with Hideout, Late Bloomer, Dandelions In Bullet Holes, Washington, and Captive.

Answering calls for an encore, Sarah played solo two audience requests: In The Road and Dogs And Thunder. Though she had been making political statements all through her set, Escarpement was the most overtly political of her songs. Finally, Sarah, Kathleen and the band sent everyone home on the up-tempo Basement Apartment. For me, just Sarah and her guitar was the best way to listen to her songs.