Criteria

When We Break

[5] This must all be pretty surreal for Stephen Pedersen. Propelled by a dropped-D guitar riff that us rock critics can only describe as “driving,” When We Break’s opener “Preventing The World” finds the former Cursive/White Octave member lamenting the fact he’s “stuck in a basement world,” wondering aloud if it he’ll ever be in the position to give up his lucrative law career to play music full-time. However, listeners have an advantage that Pedersen didn’t while he was recording these 11 songs in his subterranean studio: We already know the answer. A marked improvement from 2003’s criminally underrated En Garde, just about everything about When We Break is bigger: the production, the hooks, the record label. But it’s really the subtleties-like A.J. Mogis’ distorted bass line on “Kiss The Wake” or Pedersen’s falsetto break on “Self Help-that’ll make you return to the album again and again. If you thought Pedersen’s glory days were behind him, When We Break not only proves you wrong-it proves they haven’t even started yet. (SADDLE CREEK) Jonah Bayer



ROCKS LIKE: Foo Fighters’ One By One • The White Octave’s Menergy • Jimmy Eat World’s Futures