When Stephen Pedersen left Omaha in 1998 to attend law school in North Carolina, the music industry didn't care about his hometown, and the band he co-founded, Cursive, seemed finished because frontman Tim Kasher had moved to Oregon. But a lot changed after Pedersen left; Kasher returned to Omaha, and the reformed Cursive became one of the most celebrated bands in independent music. Thanks to Cursive, Bright Eyes, and their label, Saddle Creek, Omaha also experienced an unlikely fame. For his part, Pedersen kept busy with The White Octave, but he missed the spoils of Omaha's success.
That sense of loss permeated Criteria's first album, En Garde, which Pedersen recorded in his basement after he returned to Omaha in 2001. With a cushy job at a law firm, he grudgingly relegated music to a hobby, a decision he laments on When We Break's blazing opening track, "Prevent The World." He's stuck in a "basement world" where music cannot provide his living: "So how do I reconcile six years of life / with irrational urges? / will I still stay home?" Pedersen has since quit his job to focus on Criteria, but there's catharsis in the song's huge-sounding guitars (think Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins), which kick in just after that line. "Prevent The World" sets the template for the rest of When We Break: surging, guitar-drenched rock heavily informed by post-hardcore. The album seems focused on rectifying Saddle Creek's recent dearth of guitar-rock single-handedly—and it succeeds.
Although no other song matches the undeniable hooks in "Prevent The World," When We Break also lacks any filler. Consistently strong across its 11 tracks, the album has a particularly solid first half, buoyed by tracks like "Good Luck" and "Kiss The Wake." The guitars' start/stop dynamics recall post-hardcore heavies like Jawbox and Quicksand, but the overall catchiness sounds downright Foo Fighters-esque. The band strikes a nice balance between angular post-punk (enjoyed by some) and a strong pop sensibility (enjoyed by all), which makes for crossover potential. Perhaps When We Break will help Pedersen make up for lost time.