Geneviève Racette’s Golden leaves me in a thoughtful daze, as if I’d just heard a story without a happy ending, making it feel all the more real. What exactly makes this album so captivating? It doesn’t offer salvation but silence, not drama but a slow, stubborn acceptance of oneself.

It’s an album that’s pretty hard to classify, and perhaps that’s its greatest strength. Geneviève Racette seems to deliberately avoid direct emotions—instead, every melody, every word is shrouded in a soft haze, like a memory you’re afraid to lose.

photo by Catherine Deslauriers

Before I even sat down to write this review, I spent nearly a week listening to Golden multiple times. At first, I played it as background music, but then I found myself coming back to it again and again. This album almost demands to be lived through, and each time it seems to get even better. Geneviève Racette immerses us in a world where sincerity doesn’t need filters. Listening to her means forgetting that pop music should be, you know, polished, like a perfectly smoothed stone. Instead, we get natural beauty—vulnerable, slightly tender, yet achingly real.

Racette making me feel something almost physical: strength and gentleness intertwined in a continuous flow of sound. Her voice doesn’t soar in exultant peaks, but it’s filled with pauses—rare, precious moments where it feels as though she’s breathing beside you, sharing something meaningful. She hides neither broken hopes nor innocent dreams.

Each of the 12 tracks on Golden is flawless, but there are a few that you return to again and again. Right from the start, the album captivates with From Friends To Strangers, a tender folk-pop ballad about lost friendship. There are no excessive embellishments here—just honesty filling the space between words. Racette’s voice, light and piercing, draws you into that quiet, nearly invisible pain that’s so hard to express.

Next comes X2, where Racette shares her personal story of seven years of sobriety. Co-writers Aaron Pollock and Lydia Sutherland subtly underscore her journey, while the minimalist arrangement renders the song almost translucent.

The title track, Golden, becomes the natural centerpiece of the album. Light and airy, it’s a song about transforming pain into hope and creating something beautiful. Racette conveys her vision of healing, showing that each hardship endured adds to our inner light. Plus, this song has a remarkably commercial appeal and is incredibly catchy.

photo by Catherine Deslauriers

Then there’s My Thoughts Of You, where we hear a slight experiment in sound. Electronic elements add a feeling of changeability and elusiveness. With Instagram, Racette and her co-writers, Lydia Sutherland and Aaron Pollock, address issues of self-worth and the impact of social media. Racette manages to deliver a simple yet significant message about self-acceptance amidst edited images. Her approach to complex themes resonates genuinely, making her music a kind of gentle protest.

I Hope It Hurts continues the folk sound but adds a layer of sensuality and depth. Home Movies, inspired by old family videos, carries a warmth that fills the imagination with images of memories. The album closes with a pair of tracks, Feel Things and The Reasons (I’ll Be Alright). In Feel Things, the lyrics seem to resonate with the heart, offering comfort, understanding, and support. The final track, “The Reasons (I’ll Be Alright),” co-written with Danielle Knibbe, expresses gratitude to those who have helped Racette along her journey. Poignant, with gentle guitars and soft percussion, this track sounds like a sincere love letter to life and to those who help us live it.

Golden could be described as fragile, and it’s precisely that vulnerability that captivates. It’s hard to say where Geneviève Racette reveals herself more—in the simple melodies or in the lyrics that seem to be written between the lines. Her approach doesn’t spill over into any forced drama. Racette allows her memories to become part of each listener, with pauses and fragmented phrases leaving her own traces along the way. There’s so much unsaid in this music that it becomes even more personal than one might expect.

In moments like these, Racette’s voice becomes especially compelling. Yes, her vocals. When she sings about the complexities of self-love, about breakups and loss—it sounds like a confession. The deeper you go into her world, the more you realize that there’s no “catharsis” in the usual sense. There’s no tidy resolution or explanation. She simply acknowledges that all of this is a part of her, like the scrapes left on your skin from childhood falls. And each track, as it turns out, is a quiet admission that life doesn’t need to be smooth to be beautiful.

Catch her on tour—she’s in the midst of it now.

November 6 – Gibson Music Hall, Appleton, WI

November 7 – Moser Center for the Performing Arts, Joliet, IL

November 8 – Bishop Hill Creative Commons, Bishop Hill, IL

November 9 – UncommonGround, Chicago, IL

November 14 – 20 Front Street, Lake Orion, MI

November 21 – House Concert, Guelph, ON

November 22 – Burdock, Toronto, ON

November 23 – Waterford Old Town Hall, Waterford, ON

November 24 – Aeolian Hall, London, ON

*Promoted content. All information provided is prepared in accordance with editorial standards and is intended to offer useful insights for readers.