Criteria

Stephen Pedersen launched Criteria after cutting his teeth in Cursive during the period when Saddle Creek Records remained a closely guarded Omaha concern. He later exited that band to pursue a law degree at Duke in Durham, North Carolina, yet continued making music by assembling White Octave as a student project. Pedersen came back to Omaha in 2001 and composed a set of tracks that became the En Garde album, enlisting neighborhood friends to bring the material to the stage. The 2005 release When We Break, put out by Saddle Creek, featured the group’s steady roster of Pedersen alongside A.J. Mogis, Mike Sweeney, and Aaron Druery. That same year Saddle Creek pressed a new edition of Criteria’s first album, while the band also supplied a track to Lagniappe, the label’s Hurricane Katrina relief compilation.