Hereafter: In the End, We'll All Become Stories (2021)

Thoughts & Feelings

At the start, this album immediately wants me to be sad. "Looking Out to Nowhere" leading into "Time is Everything We Have and Don't" pulls my heart out of my body so I can sit with it in hand for the rest of the album. Each track thereafter brings a sense of hope and longing, loneliness among love. I feel like my favorite person is hugging me but something is still missing.

Without knowing what the artist intended, these songs feel like they reflect stories from my life, pulling out themes I'd repressed or forgotten about. "I Told the Stars About You" is love found and lost. It's that very specific hint of nostalgia that I get thinking of 2017 and a person I'll never see again who changed my life. It's also the anger I felt when I had to accept that I didn't know what I had when I had it. "Fork in the Road" forces me to recall times when I didn't know what was next, agonizing over possibilities and potential in any path I took, wondering if I might do better staying where I am and seeing what comes if I don't change anything. At almost 4 minutes into the track, you're in the eye of the storm before you launch yourself into what's next. Every decision has unknown consequences and this song reminds me that regardless I'll find that calm again.

The album wraps up gently with a track bearing the same title, "In the End We'll All Become Stories." It's more powerful after listening end to end, but still stands well on its own to offer peace and comfort. It feels like sitting on the edge of Lake Ontario on a quiet day, listening to the waves lap against the rocks while you keep disjointed thoughts of your life. This song puts your heart back into your body and reminds you to breathe through it.

Random facts:

• This is Hereafter's second full album.
• Hereafter is a solo artist named Rob Evraets Jr. Evraets also plays drums in a few other bands and has a corgi named Charlie.

Favorite tracks:

• Time is Everything We Have and Don't
• Snowy Nights in December
• I Told the Stars About You