Mitya - Broken Shoelaces and Sleeping Pills

Listening to an unusually awesome album for the first time is kind of like having unexpectedly great sex with someone for the first time. It doesn't necessarily hit you at first, but there's that flashbulb moment where you think, "Daaaamn. Keep this up."

Broken Shoelaces And Sleeping Pills by Denver's Mitya is such an example. From the start, one may pick up intriguing aspects of their style, like the solo horn in "Shapeshifters Anonymous."

As the album progresses minute by minute, it transforms into pseudo-psychedelic rock, which may make you wonder what you did with your Velvet Underground collection.

One of the best things about Broken Shoelaces And Sleeping Pills is that you can't guess when and how the songs' style will shift, but they tend to become more impressive as they continue.

"Tongue In Teeth" and "Elegy For A Fantasy World" border on punk rock song at first, and suddenly the album enters a new dimension as the electric guitar manifests itself with distortions to please Jimmy Page.

"Sleepwalking Off The Edge" is the album's token ballad, and perhaps its best track. The melancholy chords remind one of the more tender Smashing Pumpkins material, maudlin yet powerful.

Appropriately, Broken Shoelaces And Sleeping Pills ends on an acoustic song, "On The Road 2," which seems to bid us goodbye and hopes we enjoyed the show. However, listeners probably won't move to the next album on their iPods without replaying a few songs first.