Sarah Harmer

It took four years for the hypnotic and intimate vocalist Sarah Harmer to release this second CD. All of Our Names borrows its title from the lyrics of her song “Dandelions in Bullet Holes.” The song, which adds a cello to accompany her guitar work, has such evocative and haunting lyrics they can be considered poetry: “a raincoat and a French beret/ the rolling hills of past mistakes/ lie quite under cloud… Dandelions in bullet holes/ we stand in our civilian clothes.” Harmer brings worldly qualities to her new release despite four years of near isolation on a small farmhouse in Kingston, Ontario, where the Canadian singer/songwriter laid down these home-spun tracks. By avoiding the stressful demands of formal studio scheduling, Harmer rewards us with a thoughtful, multi-layered CD. Other tracks include the rough-tinged “Took It All” and the lullaby “Go to Sleep.” There are a couple more pop-invoked tunes, with “Pendulums” and especially “Almost” more likely to find commercial airplay than the CD’s mostly folksy numbers.