Sarah Harmer: You Were Here and the Escarpment

Chapter one: the Burlington beginnings

Harmer came up through Burlington's music scene — the suburban Toronto (see our Toronto features) ring — playing in the band Siren before going solo. The debut Songs for Clem (1999) and the breakthrough You Were Here (2000) established the sound: the crystalline voice, the acoustic guitar, the songs about place and memory and the escarpment (the Niagara Escarpment, the Burlington landscape that would define her imagery).

Chapter two: the quiet masterpieces

You Were Here — the "Basement Apartment," the "Don't Get Your Back Up" — the critics' darling (see our critics feature), the quiet canon (see our underrated feature). All of Our Names (2004), I'm a Mountain (2005), Oh Little Fire (2010), Are You Good (2020) — the records accumulated the reputation: the craft undimmed, the voice undimmed, the advocacy (the environmentalism, the escarpment protection) deepening with the fame.

Chapter three: the escarpment's songwriter

Harmer's legacy: the escarpment's songwriter (see our atlas feature), the quiet craft (see our craft feature), the consistency that defines the working artist's (see our income feature) ideal. The escarpment (see our features) is in the songs; the songs (see our features) are in the escarpment. The quiet endures. The songwriter (see our features) holds (see our features) the (see our features) ground (see our features).

Why she matters

She matters because You Were Here is one of the finest quiet records in the Canadian canon — and because Harmer proved the songwriter's craft (see our features) could carry the decades (see our features) with consistency and conscience.