Sarah Harmer: All Of Our Names : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Wispy and fleeting, "all of our Names" isn't so much folk music as acoustic comfort food. Harmer, a lonely Canadian who sings with the sort of sigh that could be resignation, pure joy or both, writes very plain, unvarnished, rural songs. "Silver Road" is emblematic: Both the lyrics -- about moon rises and cars bumping down gravel roads -- and the easy, unhurried rhythm of the tune conjure up a cool night on some very quiet and beautiful piece of farmland. On "Took It All," Harmer pushes into drum-loop primitivism, wringing most of the winsomeness out of her voice until she sounds like she's been up all night, losing a fight to keep someone close to her. It isn't exactly desolate stuff, but like most of Names, the tune is suffused with a peaceful fatalism, a mood that's as casually downbeat as Harmer's overcast voice itself.

PAT BLASHILL
(RS 945, April 1, 2004)