The name that comes most quickly to mind while listening to Lipton's music is Slaid Cleaves, also a fiercely independent folkish singer/songwriter that often gets lumped into the country field. But like Cleaves, Lipton's songs are consistently poetic and many times beautifully enigmatic, rather than following the usual linear lyrical expectations placed upon today's Nashville songwriters. "Ride the Bus" stands out from the rest of collection on this recording, in that it is happy and hopeful. It moves to a jaunty beat, and even features a layered vocal chorus. "End of the World" is more typical, as it finds Lipton walking a lonesome road, having somehow not received the memo about the world's eminent demise.

Whether he's losing himself in hazy metaphorical imagery, or telling a relatively straight forward story, Lipton surrounds himself with wonderful guitar finger picking or other acoustic instrumentation. Breathing In is so wonderfully intoxicating that after experiencing it, there isn't any shame at all to admitting you inhaled.