There’s something quietly subversive about a folk singer who announces she won’t be doing an encore before she’s even finished her set. Geneviève Racette delivered this cheeky proclamation to a full room at Hudson Creative Hub on Friday night, showcasing the kind of matter-of-fact charm that defined her entire 80-minute performance. “You can ask for one more song,” she told the audience with a grin, “but I won’t be playing one more song.”
The Montreal-based songwriter, touring behind her fourth album Golden, opened with the title track, a bold choice that immediately established the evening’s emotional stakes. Her all-female trio created a sonic landscape that was spacious enough for her delicate vocals to breathe, yet intimate enough that every guitar string resonated with clarity. Speaking almost entirely in French for the first half of her set, Racette seemed completely at home in her mother tongue. When intermission arrived, she sheepishly admitted it was the first time she’d been asked if she could speak more in English. The switch felt natural, like she was letting us into another room of the same house.
During “Golden,” Racette’s delivery of “the words that tried to break me down have now become my saviour” embodied the experience of someone who has truly transformed pain into something beneficial. The chorus, “Let the hits keep coming, ’cause I am done with running,” felt like a manifesto delivered in a whisper, setting up everything that followed.
“From Friends to Strangers” landed with particular impact, Racette’s exploration of fractured relationships feeling especially raw in the intimate setting. “Home Movies” carried a nostalgic warmth that filled the room with shared memories, while “I Hope It Hurts” added an unexpected edge to the evening’s emotional palette.
The setlist read like a roadmap through contemporary anxiety. “Instagram” found Racette wrestling with social media’s peculiar brand of soul-crushing validation. Her love-hate relationship with digital connectivity was a real-life experience, shared with the kind of openness that made strangers feel like confidants.
Racette’s voice has this rare quality where it sounds both fragile and completely unbreakable. On “X2,” her meditation on seven-plus years of sobriety, she delivered lines about personal transformation as someone who’s actually lived them. The song’s bare-bones arrangement—guitar, subtle percussion, careful harmonies—gave her words room to breathe.
The evening’s best surprise came when Racette seamlessly wove Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” into “My Thoughts,” creating an unexpected bridge between songs. She stripped away all the grunge angst and rebuilt it as a folk confession. Suddenly Kurt Cobain’s invitation became something entirely different; gentler, but no less urgent.
Her French-language material, including “Sans demi-tour” and “Le roseau,” hit just as hard, though the linguistic shift seemed to unlock something different in her delivery. Racette’s bilingual approach never felt like checking boxes; instead, she moved between languages like someone switching between different emotional registers, each one offering its own way of getting at the truth.
She closed with “In Circles,” and, true to her word, no encore. Racette did make a brief stop at the merch table, chatting with fans and signing a few albums before heading out.
She mentioned heading to New Brunswick next, scaling down to duo format for even smaller venues. Based on Friday’s performance, intimate suits her perfectly. She tells the truth in two languages, with a smile, and without needing to milk applause for an extra song.
Sometimes that’s exactly what people need to hear.
Review & photos – Steve Gerrard
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