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about this album
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
