"breaking down like an enzyme"
I love band rebirths and maybe that is the incorrect word / description when it comes to Criteria, I mean they never broke up but this feels like a birthing or maybe it is more like coming from behind a lush purple velvet curtain. Whatever it is, the release of their new album "Years" has to be an epic event for their fans and the fans of Criteria's heart beat, Stephen Pedersen who in 2003 started the band after the dissolution of the"beloved" North Carolina based college rock band The White Octave. "Years" is, in fact, Criteria's first full length since 2005's "En Garde" but I will not get into the players and the specific circuitous route, journey that lead us here now. You can find all those facts below in the Press Notes. No, I want to get to the music.
My first introduction to Criteria is the reason for this post, the track We Pretend from the "Years" album. It is instantly engaging, there is something about the force that this band exudes and captures on tape (ie file whatever). It is formidable, loud and so extremely potent for so many reasons. Ultimately it is the total sum of the parts but the proggy, tightly wound, jagged sound just pulls you out of what you are in and into their mayhem whether mild or raucous. The lyrical content breaks down human connections (maybe) to chemical shakes. I love the anthem like, big ass sounds and the shouty vocals by Pedersen.
"And while our friends are blown apart, We celebrate a fake-tanned Bonaparte, Is this the end or is this just the start, I can make amends if you are true to your heart"
Jagged. I like the jagged nature of their progs and guitar lines. The way they snake around each other. On the first track Agitate Resuscitate (which might be a better description than re-birth by the way) the guitar sound is so fucking intense that it feels like a declarative statement that the band is going to rock your socks off and they do just that. When the musical break gets spartan, the song breaths for only a moment and when the music comes in full force it is just so rock heavenly. When I listened to heavy rock love letter that is The Saint it is stunningly powerful. Oh (and fuck me) but this band crafts double leads in such a purely 70's rock sort of way (smiling). This song feels so big but so personal that I actually thought of Against Me (Laura Jane Grace) but bigger, as there is a tinge of emo in this one, beneath all the fury. We are. We are. We aren't has (again) this jagged construction with such gloriously artful lead lines. When the drums shuffle and shift during the breaks, the songs, rhythm guitar, bass and guitar lines seem to stir up like a dirt devil. I am flashing on the celebration rock of Japandroids now. There is a bit of that tone here and I love that. I can feel it on This Reign Is Ours too which stirs in a potent sense of romance. Again, Pedersen's lead vox are killing me here. Literally killing me.
Fun . . . darling it’s been too long ...We’re gonna shake off this heavy fog and greet the morning sun...Exploding beauteous one... I want to hear your engine’s hum
The track Tight Rope with it's medium tempo but double time staccato rhythms feels a bit more art rockish but fiercely divergent on the chorus that feels like crafted chaos with Michael Sweeny's artful dense drum fills / beat. The staggered, stalking beat and post punk reverie of Hands Out, shows a different side. Exquisitely twisted art rock / post punk / heavy rock. The lead breaks are fucking rad and rather glammy. The "art" rock forces are heavy on this one. I thought of a perverse crashing together of Queens Of The Stone Age / Be Bop Deluxe / Sweet (yes seriously).
Ten thousand angels descend with their heads down and hands out... Ten thousand angels descend with their heads down and hands out... And right on; I laid it on
On the track We Are The Ones Who Make It So (a great, great title) all the styles from the previous songs seem to converge into a multi hooked barb, a beautiful but deadly lure that you will want to bite and swallow whole.
We can reach out or let it go... frustration we can control... Because we are the ones who know...We are the ones who make it so
The last track is called Peace and it might be the most all inclusive sounding track on the album, made me thinking of Japandroids again. There is a blue collar musculature here and with the big old school classic rock down beats it cuts a wide path. On one hand, it might (to me) push too many familiar buttons but when it erupts during the last third it does feel epic, like that grand lush purple velvet curtain is sadly closing.
Criteria is Stephen Pedersen (Vocals, Guitars), AJ Mogis (Bass, Vocals), Michael Sweeney (Drums), Aaron Druery (Guitars).
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Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
Criteria are a very loud band, but they’ve admittedly been quiet for a while. For the uninitiated, the band was formed by former Cursive guitarist Stephen Pedersen in 2003 after he moved back to his hometown of Omaha following his graduation from Duke University and the subsequent dissolution of his beloved North Carolina-based “college rock” act, The White Octave.
After releasing their debut En Garde that same year on Initial Records, Criteria signed to Saddle Creek Records and put out When We Break in 2005. In support of the album, the act — which also includes bassist A.J. Mogis, guitarist Aaron Druery and drummer Mike Sweeney — toured with everyone from Jimmy Eat World to Minus The Bear and converted countless fans to their anthemic brand of post-hardcore. After two years on the road promoting the album, other priorities took precedent as Pedersen got engaged and focused on his law career while the rest of the band similarly transitioned into a phase of adulthood that wasn’t compatible with being a full-time touring act.
That said, Criteria never broke up and continued to play occasional shows as Pedersen struggled to find time to write new material outside of his domestic duties. In fact the drums for Years were recorded at Omaha’s ARC studios in January of 2014 and the album was intended to be finished five years ago, but the aforementioned professional and personal responsibilities forced it to languish on a hard drive a little bit longer.
“I think calling the album Years is pretty self-explanatory but I also think there were probably full calendar years where nothing happened with it,” Pedersen jokes.
Eventually the guitars and vocals were finished in Pedersen’s basement studio on the same console as every previous Criteria release. Finally the album was mixed once again by Mogis, whose production credits include everyone from Monsters Of Folk to Planes Mistaken For Stars.
“There wasn’t any sense of urgency making this album, but we persisted and never gave up and eventually got it done and we are so excited with how it came together,” Pedersen adds.
While the band’s 2005 single “Prevent The World,” saw Pedersen grappling with his inability to reconcile his rockstar dreams with his law career, that conflict isn’t present on Years. From the syncopated post-hardcore groove of the opener “Agitate Resuscitate” to the Quicksand-inspired perfection of the closing riff of “We Pretend,” the album also sees the band stretching out while still retaining the arena-ready rock sound that’s become their hallmark.
“‘We Pretend’ touches on the theme of being an immigrant or being in a wartorn country walking through landmines and this idea that there are millions of people living under circumstances I can’t even fathom and still finding joy and happiness in it,” Pedersen explains when asked of the broad lyrical scope of the album. “It’s just sort of this idea that you’ve got to break away from all that stuff before it kills you. Hence the line “break away before you break me down.’”
Years has its share of aggressive rock moments — most notably evident in Mogis’ distortion-drenched bass tone, which is so dirty it many require a post-listening shower — but Pedersen himself didn’t feel very angsty this time around.
“I'm in such a general state of contentment in my life that finding inspiration for agitation in my personal life at this phase of it was really tough,” he admits, adding that the personal struggles inherent on Criteria’s first two albums just isn’t a part of his life these days. “I didn't have that kind of tension relating to relationships or trying to balance the band with my career anymore,” he continues. “If anything maybe the thing that got me over the hump was Donald Trump and just being so embarrassed and frustrated with the state of the country that we would bring a man like that into The White House. That kind of crystalized some things for me and put a fire back in my belly,” he explains.
It also catalyzed him to finally finish the album and get Criteria back on the road for a well-deserved victory lap.
In many ways, things are coming full-circle for Pedersen. Years is being released by 15 Passenger, a label owned and operated by his first band Cursive. Better yet, in January Criteria will celebrate the release of the album by heading out on a two-week West Coast tour opening for Cloud Nothings and Cursive, which will also mark the first time the band will be playing many of these songs together in the same room.
“I think all of us are super excited because this is such a special opportunity to get to go on tour with two great bands, one which we have a ton of history, and get to do this again. It makes us feel very lucky,” Pedersen summarizes.
In a world where life often feels unpredictable there’s something strangely comforting about a band like Criteria coming together to create something not for the sake of commerce but just simply because they love making music together. As Pedersen sings during one of Years’ most memorable moments, “This reign is ours.” Let’s bask in it for a minute.
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