“It's what Bossa Nova would sound like if it originated in Laurel Canyon rather than Rio. With its hint of Brazilian day-dreaming and spicy dashes of funk and psychedelia, it sounds like The Girl From Ipanema taking a beach walk in the moonlight, on the prowl for something exciting.” - Yours Truly
“Cliff Usher and Lindsay Pitts, the ethereal duo behind the name, are magnetic to watch. Equally striking in appearance and poise (Lindsay's petite frame and overall glow led me to speculate she survives solely on a diet of kelp and good cheer) their sound goes beyond all that is indie and new. They're a bit of Brazilian Girls blended with Mazzy Star which is further evidenced by a talent and knowledge of music that transcends their youth. At a venue free from Friday night filler they wove weightless vocals with haunting sounds courtesy of keyboard, ukulele, and guitar.”
- Krissi Lindsey, Daily Beatz
“I downloaded all of their albums. Every single one is good. It's perfect music for a hot summer afternoon. To my ears, it's somewhere in the neighborhood of early Beck, mixed Neutral Milk Hotel, sprinkled with some samba and folk… and then spiked with an optic nerve hit of LSD... This band is amazing.
Instantly, I knew this interview wasn't going to be like any other interview I'd done before. Cliff and Lindsay were two people I understood. They're adventurers. They're travelers. Real life musical vagabonds. I understand them uniquely, because I've been there myself, out on the road, trying to make sense of all the pieces, and then putting it into my art.
Cliff and Lindsay have been traveling the country for two years in a van, making music and recording. They've made huge sacrifices in their lives in the name of creating amazing music. Birdlips as a band is a function of learning and creativity. Their sound resonates with me because I understand what they're singing about. They're songwriters. The music is amazing, but any good band can cover a Birdlips song and make it amazing. That's the transcendent storytelling Cliff and Lindsay were talking about.”
- Fresh Cornbread, Earmilk
“Birdlips is, in essence, modern psychedelic pop with light sprinklings of vocalists like Margo Guryan and stylings of Lee & Nancy. Both familiar and unfamiliar, their tracks tend to drift along kaleidoscopic, prismic waves. Like watching a sunset or sunrise, the curling, silky fog drifting in, it lulls you into a soft, swirling bliss. The old is new and the new is old once again.” - Unholy Rhythms
“8 slices of flowery, smokey psyched-pop... glistening, woozy ambiance, catchy melodies and organic rhythms. It's one of the best things I’ve recently discovered in my inbox.” - Turntable Kitchen
“Guitarist Cliff Usher and keyboardist Lindsay Pitts have embodied the very essence of a beachy, Brazilian bossa-nova and tweaked it with their own eerie, Americana twist. Their single one in seven is one such saucy sample of Birdlips' cool, modern take on the classic 60's Rio sound.
... all the while Pitt's off-hand, airy vocals belie haunting lyrics such as “they say the dark will take us all, it's a sign of the times” that would send shivers up the spine of Prince himself. Though it harkens a lazy day at the beach, one in seven is more seaside at dusk, when you suddenly realize that slight sunburn you have is now giving you goose bumps, and you pull on a cozy wrap as you inch closer to the bonfire.”
- Miss Dolly Mod, My Old Kentucky Blog
“Birdlips may be the best band you aren't listening to.” - District of Sound
“You, like I, perhaps had never heard of them, but now that you have, you fucking love them... blissful garage-pop-country with jangles and keyboards and a wall of reverberating harmonies. Think Rilo Kiley meets Black Lips. Think the Duchess and the Duke meets Mickey & Sylvia... They had a bunch of fans, who stood up front and yelled encouraging things at them” - Peter Heyneman Brightest Young Things
“Birdlips is an enigmatic duo from Virginia - though they call the road their home these days - who sound like a lot more than just two people on their three slim EPs. The most recent, Emanations, released in July, was recorded in an apartment in Los Angeles and has a definite L.A. vibe. It channels the churning-organ menace of the Doors, the celestial country harmonies of the Byrds, and the psych-pop leanings of the Strawberry Alarm Clock. It's a beautiful, haunting sound, familiar yet alien, charming but forbidding, and just the thing to warm up a cold December weekend.” - METRO PULSE (Knoxville, TN)
“The D.C. duo Birdlips creates a sunset-and-smog glow in its pretty, restrained acoustic tunes... There's a hint of spooky blues and a strong sense of melody in their take on folk, and it doesn't hurt that they emphasize rhythm as much as they do atmosphere” - The Onion
“When they got on stage, they took me to a different time and place. A mod party on a beach with bonfires, flying into a sunset, taking a nap on a thunderhead, then smoking a bowl in a hot tub in a snow storm . . . I've never heard any music like it. I hate to admit it, but it is probably a good thing they are moving to California. Their sound belongs on the West Coast. I don't think Virginia can really dig it properly. I only wish I could have found out about them earlier.” - Adam Price, Magazine33
“From start to finish, One Tongue is packed with gems like “Gold and Jade” and laced with a haunting familiarity that will force you to keep the album on repeat.” - Steven Place, Brightest Young Things
“Clifford John and Lindsay Pitts play an assortment of oddly-combined instruments, sing incredibly tight harmonies, and create the sort of hazy, gauzy songs that might result from a union of She & Him and Mazzy Star.”
- Bill DeYoung, Connect Savannah
“Birdlips was a highlight of the evening since this duo - Clifford John and Lindsay Pitts - has a really interesting folk-indie sound, rich percussion and tones capped with their beautiful vocal harmonies (Pitts’ voice is incredible!). Expect to hear more of these two in the near future.” - Erin Holmes, Brightest Young Things
“It was clear that this was the show many had come to see... quarters were close and the fans were as near to the musicians as possible. It was during this time that the show was most captivating. Surrounded by other audience members and pushed close to the stage, the vocals seemed to come deep from the peripherals. The consistent, beating rhythm and their lofty but catchy melodies had an almost mesmerizing effect. I lost track of time until they brought me back to earth and ended their set with newest, most grounded track, Comeback Kid.” - The Declaration
“Their musical mix shouldn't work: 12-string acoustic guitar, a moog-sounding synthesizer, a tambourine and male-female harmonies beneath a ton of reverb. But they knocked me off my feet. The duo is Cliff Usher on guitar/vocals and Lindsay Pitts on keyboards/vocals. Their sound is a little spooky and withdrawn, a little psychedelic and a little folksy. Their set left me wanting more of their unique sound and I really wished that the Merge Records folks would have been in the crowd to sign them on the spot. I was more than happy that I shelled out a meager $10 for their lovely debut, Cardboard Wings. I can't shout it loudly enough: These two are the real deal.” - Michael Abernathy, The Homegrown Snob (North Carolina)
“Birdlips still strikes me as an anomaly - dropped in our midst by Mazzy Star or Alex Chilton or the Velvet Underground, likely to take off again at any moment. Part of it is the plumage: Guitarist Cliff Usher is a red-headed George Harrison in corduroy and paisley; keyboardist Lindsay Pitts is nature's update of the Twiggy or Zooey Deschanel model, with a taste for mod fashions and boots. But the two sing a song sweeter than any 'keet. They perch on the dark side of the delicate - that Alice in Chains unplugged album, modern psychedelia like Beach House and High Places (bands they turned me on to) - ruffle my feathers, then ascend.” - Best of C-VILLE 2009
“our favorite local record of the year” - C-VILLE News & Arts Weekly
“...like a perfect black-and-white film where nothing is out of place.” - NPR
“...a sweet, ruffled collection of ambient rock maps. The multi-instrumental wanderlust of the album only adds to the poetic whirl of songs like 'When the Last Light Goes Out.” - The Austin Chronicle
“Birdlips mix organic instruments with looped percussion, creating a folk-tinged sound that is simultaneously intimate and expansive... Cardboard Wings, is an earthy and atmospheric album, not unlike Emmylou Harris' acclaimed 'Wrecking Ball.'...[it] swoons with vocal harmonies and melodic turns that belie the musicians' youth. ” - Andrew Leahey, The Washington Times
“Cardboard Wings reminds me in one moment of the music played in the back of a gyspy's caravan and in the next it seems to slide out from an open window overlooking the busy intersection of the world. The occasional plucking of a banjo gives these songs a rustic feel, but then there's a haunted modern flavor in the mix that is equal parts Nick Drake and Mazzy Star... There is some strange magic in this music and Birdlips now has me under its spell.” - Shaun Harvey, cvilleMUSE
“Cardboard Wings sounds like the product of a precocious young man that trusted the tidal pull of his gut, severing instruments from their past histories to patch together a motley orchestra that resonates with him... And the landscape is all liminal - close to sleep or waking, dawn or dusk, crossing borders and bodies, the type of grand events that make countless writers feel small in scale but enormous in perspective... Cardboard Wings is a remarkable first record.”
- Brendan Fitzgerald, C-VILLE News and Arts Weekly
“...the updated, sophisticated and polished version of everyone's favorite lo-fi folk artists of the 60's and 70's. Were Nick Drake playing music today, he'd be touring with Birdlips. Usher's voice is something like Jeff Buckley meets Andrew Bird – commanding and a little rough around the edges, with a strength and maturity that belies his 20-something years. Pitts' creative work on the keys (and her too-rare singing) is the perfect complement; it is a soft fleecy layer that assures the overall warmth of the music.” - the Connection Newspapers
Forty-five songs that every Charlottesville music fan should know:
#4 Birdlips “Some Kind of Death,” from Cardboard Wings (2008)
“Sometimes a local album skips years of Charlottesville musical evolution and soars in with a sound from another world entirely. Cardboard Wings is that album, and this song is the best example. Sounds even better in a live performance, with Cliff Usher's echoing guitar break and keyboardist Lindsay Pitts showing a bit of leg.” - C-VILLE News and Arts Weekly
“Birdlips Cardboard Wings transports you to a different time, bringing up images of the perfect autumn day filled with lush reds and oranges, walking down a dirt road paved only by the footsteps of strangers... I suppose in this instance Nick Drake and Jack Kerouac would have helped pave the path for Cardboard Wings. Whether the album was meant to be a story or it just fell into place, I recommend your first couple listens to be a straight through kind of deal, or else you'll lose the tale it longs to tell you... And here's what I love best about the album... they step outside of the boundaries of any genre you'd love to stick them with.” - One Kind Radio (Chicago)
Xtine's Top 10+ of 2008 - One Kind Radio (Chicago)