It would’ve been enough had Sarah Harmer stopped after fronting Weeping Tile, one of the preeminent acts to help establish Canada’s indie rock scene in the early ’90s. Instead, she’s spent the two-plus decades that followed the Kingston, Ontario, band’s 1998 demise sharpening her craft to become one of the country’s most nuanced singer-songwriters. Harmer's solo turn came by accident, in a way, when she decided to record an album of back-porch folk songs as a gift for her dad—1999’s Songs for Clem. Within those covers is the DNA for the rustic, gentle tunes she’d write for her Polaris Prize-nominated 2005 LP I'm a Mountain—and for a number of other songs that speak to her commitment to environmental activism. But Harmer can just as quickly toggle back to her poetic rock instincts: On tunes like “Basement Apt.” and “The Hideout,” she finds a deep connection to places while also exploring the people and relationships they’re tied to.