Broken Spindles was Joel Petersen of Omaha, Nebraska. Joel also played bass and guitar in The Faint. The music of Broken Spindles ranged from instrumental electronic songs to sparse piano pieces to rock-influenced pop songs.

Broken Spindles originally started in 2001 as the soundtrack for a friend's film. It developed into a solo project with the first release in 2002 on Tiger Style Records. In between touring with the Faint and Beep Beep, Petersen found time to write music for Broken Spindles.