Joel Peterson is not one to rest on his laurels. A full-time member of dance-rockers the Faint and the subtler electronic band Broken Spindles, Peterson has already put out one Spindles album this year and says another should be heading our way soon.Of the self-released album from earlier this year, Peterson says: “I always use the term ‘album’ with quotation marks. It’s all instrumental and it’s stuff I did for a film. It’s not really a proper album — but it is. Hence quotation marks.”
Broken Spindles’ score-based music is bright, instrumental electronic-pop, but his record “inside/absent” has a much more intimate singer/ songwriter feel, merged with electronics. It is comparable to Bright Eyes’ “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn.”
The music from the most recent release resembles the music Broken Spindles was making at its inception — the band started when Peterson was asked to make a score for another friend’s film — but fans of Broken Spindles’ alternate playing style shouldn’t be too worried.
“The new one is a lot like ‘inside/absent,’ but it’s a lot better,” Peterson said. “It has a lot more of a band feel and a lot less programming.”
Peterson is bringing his ever-changing live show to Denver for a fourth time. “There’s a wide range of what I’ve done and what I probably will do. That’s what’s exciting to me about playing [my songs]. Experimenting with what already exists with the song.”
Peterson says that on this tour, he didn’t recruit a band to help him re-create his music.
“This one is just me and nothing pre-recorded, nothing set up, no pre- done electronics. I’ve got sort of a stable of toys. Drum machines, cheap synths and a microphone.”
Peterson’s other band, The Faint, recently split with Saddle Creek Records and is starting its own label to put out its new material.
“It just really felt like the right thing to do and the right time to do it. We took a lot of ourselves and put it into this record. To [start a label] with the release of it . . . with the way business things are done, just seemed appropriate.”
Marlon Frisby: mfrisby@denverpost.com or (303) 954-1785
Broken Spindles
Indie rock. Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St. with Red Orange Yellow, We Are! We Are! and DJs Michael Trundle and Jason Roth $8-$10 ,
