Sarah Harmer’s “St. Peter’s Bay” is about as Canadian as it gets. Written against the backdrop of a Hockey Day in Canada event that took place in Prince Edward Island on February 9, 2012, there’s a cast that includes Ron McLean and Don Cherry, Chris Murphy, Lennie Gallant, Stephen Stanley, Carmen Townsend, Liam Corcoran, and Dave Bidiniband, all lurking in the wings. Centre stage to the song is Harmer’s relationship that was falling apart at the time.
The video itself is also a timely reminder that just because we’re social distancing at the moment, it doesn’t mean you can’t get outside. Harmer takes to the St Lawrence River to self-direct this video in relative isolation with Josh Lyon.
“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.”
Sarah Harmer’s sixth album, Are You Gone, was released on February 21, 2020 via Arts & Crafts, and it was supposed to be followed by her first tour in a decade. Like just about everything else, that has been postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Harmer had this to say about 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.”