Album Review: Before Everything and After by MxPx

Before Everything & After was pretty much my go-to music all throughout high school. It’s funny because this particular album has a very love-songish kind of feel, and yet I didn’t date, or have ANY sort of romantic encounter until the very end of my senior year – and even then it didn’t amount to anything, not even a kiss. So I think the reason I always felt like I could relate to it was because a lot of the songs are about relationships ending or someone leaving. Despite this though, most of the songs still manage to feel very fun and bouncy.

I would say this album verges on more of the pop-punk side of things. It’s very dancey and light-hearted.

“Play it Loud’ is the absolute perfect song to open on, as it’s one of the more fast-paced songs, and it mostly just talks about, well, playing it loud. One of my favourite lines says “we don’t need fortune, and we don’t need fame, we don’t need bright lights to spell our name, all we ever wanted was to play”

Very simple and direct, this speaks a clear message: the band isn’t looking to make a cash grab, they just want to play their music. It’s a very believable little verse and it sets a good tone for the rest of the album.

From this song it moves into one called Well Adjusted, which talks about being in the hospital and going crazy, trying to reach the point of  being, well adjusted.

From here it moves into “It’s Alright” which begins the loose story of a rocky relationship that the album follows. “It’s alright, we can travel through the twilight” 

As the album progresses you see the relationship begin to fail with songs like “Brokenhearted”

“You chose the words you knew would make me cry,
You probably done it to a hundred guys.
 I’m not cryin’, I got somethin’ in my eyes”

 and “More Everything”

“More laughter, more tears,
More reasons, more cheers,
More kissing in the car,
More staring at the stars,”

When I was in high school and yearning for a romance I’d never get, these songs made me kind of sad, because the lyrics were just so honest, it made me oddly nostalgic for a relationship I was never even in. Now that I’m older and have been seriously romantically involved with more than one person and am currently engaged, they almost make me even more sad – I can relate for real. At the same time though, the guitars are so catchy and the drums keep such a bouncy beat going, I can never help but to feel a little happy too. If you ignore the lyrics, most still sound like happy songs.

As you near the end of this album, the songs slow down just a little and you can see the relationship begin to mend.

“Don’t Walk Away”, “You Make Me, Me” and “You’re Not Alone” have a much happier tone as they speak of better times and staying together.

While each song on this album can easily stand alone, I really do see a loose story line emerging as the songs progress. I feel like it kind of starts in the middle, where things are rocky, and you see it progress downhill before picking up and becoming strong and happy again.

The music is very real, very raw, but very good. These are musicians who know what the heck they’re doing. The lyrics are honest, emotional, descriptive and relate-able. I enjoyed this album in high school and I enjoy it now, several years after graduating. It is essentially just some good, solid, rock and roll love tunes that anyone can get into.

You can add Before Everything and After to your iTunes library Here!

Or you can order a physical copy from Amazon by clicking below