Genevieve Stokes Returns Home in Hiding Places
Alternative pop artist Genevieve Stokes is back with her third album, Hiding Places. After releasing three lead singles, “Medicine,” “Charming,” and “Poltergeist,” it became clear Stokes is at her most assured. Hiding Places as a whole captures “the quiet moments that shape us,” and while entirely embedded with Stokes’ personality and style, this album will undoubtedly resonate with fans of artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Dora Jar, The Army the Navy, and Regina Spektor.
Hiding Places was written and recorded in Stokes’ parents’ garage, a decision made in hopes of coming back to herself, she says. “I’d just been dropped by my label and experienced a great deal of loss in my personal life, and all I wanted was to disappear into music again the way I had as a kid.” The album, she adds, “feels deeply connected to home and the places that shaped me. It’s a heavy project, but there was also a sense of freedom in making it, like I was shining a light into all the places I had ‘hidden myself away.’”
Additionally, Genevieve’s background as a pianist is extremely essential to her artistry, as well as the perfect way to sonically reconnect with her childhood. In addition to strings and bass, each track’s production uses piano as a leading force. When an artist writes with this level of vulnerability, the challenge lies in making deeply personal experiences feel universal. Stokes accomplishes that with remarkable ease. So much of the album’s mood is projected through her piano melodies, making it impossible to imagine Hiding Places without them.
“Never in Love,” the opening track, is not only a highlight of the project but also a perfect representation of how important world-building is to Genevieve. The track, Stokes explains, is “a simple declaration of my fears around intimacy. There’s a darkness to the production that feels almost like stepping through a portal into another world, which made it feel like the perfect introduction to the album,” and we must agree.
The over-layering of vocals has become so popular in alternative pop production that it’s lost the intrigue it once automatically had; however, there is, of course, a time and a place. This is it. The production creates a beautiful, almost eerie atmosphere that perfectly matches the theme of the album. By returning to the place where her love of music first began, Genevieve Stokes has mastered the art of growth, making Hiding Places her strongest work yet.
In the fall, Genevieve is going on the Hiding Places tour, with EU/UK dates already on sale.
Listen to Hiding Places below:
