Andrew Petersen is one of Queensland’s finest songwriters. Best known as the creative force behind local favourites Shutterspeed, he has been a singer, songwriter and performer for twenty years. Born and raised in Brisbane, he has devoted twenty years to playing music, often at a personal cost that only another artist could understand. He started playing guitar and experimenting with songs at the age of 15, inspired by Paul Weller and The Jam and intoxicated with both the self-sufficiency of punk and the timeless, universal quality of classic 60’s soul music. He formed the band Indigo Husk in 1990; the band became a popular and respected part of the early-90’s Brisbane scene, recording an EP, then a mini-album and the high-water mark of their career, the acclaimed 1996 album ‘AM Radio Diet". Through this period, Petersen’s songwriting partnership with Frank E. Roveta produced a series of intricate, personal and lyrically-ambiguous songs that defined their own unique, inner-city sound and remain fresh to this day. Upon the demise of Indigo Husk in 1996, Petersen spent a year at home creating his own music – songs that reflected his love of great songwriters and music that moves the heart, the soul and the feet. These tracks came to life in the shape of Shutterspeed – one of the most exciting live bands that Brisbane has ever produced, with a body of recorded work that was universally praised both in Australia and abroad. Shutterspeed found immediate support at Triple J with their debut EP in 1999, but it was the ‘Good Little Monkey’ single in 2001 that saw the band arrive on the national scene. Their debut album ‘Hill Street Views’ (2001) was a striking mix of muscular rock, impassioned and personal lyrics and a scorching soul-inflected sound that struck a chord with audiences around the country. A 4–star review in Rolling Stone, and a spot in that magazine’s Top 40 Albums Of 2001, acknowledged that something special was going on. The band’s second album, ‘Custom Made Hit Parade’ (2003) contained some of Shutterspeed’s finest recorded moments – the ferocity of ‘Come out Swingin’’, the adrenaline rush of ‘Under Control’, the grace of ‘High Among The Lights’ and the fragility and resolve of ‘Dark Forces’. It was again praised by reviewers as one of the year’s finest rock albums, and received extensive airplay on community and Triple J radio. In fact, in 2005 Noel Mengel, the revered Courier-Mail music writer, included ‘High Among The Lights’ in his 10 favourite tracks by Queensland bands (a list that included songs by The Saints, The Riptides, The Go-Betweens and Powderfinger. Pretty illustrious company). Over the years the band toured relentlessly, racking up show after spellbinding show from Adelaide to Melbourne to Port Douglas, with two consecutive years playing the Big Top at the Livid festival and being a part of the Big Day Out roadshow in 2002 just some of the highlights. Internationally the band played New Zealand in 2003, and then in 2004 the UK, after receiving an invitation to play at the In The City music conference. Having grown up idolising British bands from The Kinks and The Who to The Jam and The Clash, it was almost inevitable that coming face to face with the culture, fashion, attitudes and society that had inspired his heroes would have an effect on Andrew Petersen. Soon after their return to Australia he announced that Shutterspeed would relocate to the UK for a while, albeit as a stripped-down three-piece playing sparser, bleaker songs (that’d be the British influence, then). That band became My Scarlet Darling, and released an album there in early 2006. Andrew returned to Brisbane in late 2007. And so now Petersen has completed his debut solo album, due for release in September 2009. It's a deeply personal album, entitled 'The Universe, And Its Sense Of Humour". Listen and love it...