Dan Lipton - Breathing In (2016)

Dan Lipton has followed his muse across the Eastern Seaboard, soaking in a pastiche of musical juice from the various territories he has visited. “The places I have lived have had a direct influence on my songwriting in the most literal sense” Dan asserts. His folk-pop style is not only gleamed from the pickers and songwriters he has crossed paths with along the way but each song on his newest album, Breathing In, is tied to a concrete location.

Dan got a real taste of the touring musician’s life with his former band, Dreaming Isabelle, which released three CD’s and played around the East Coast. Lipton started gigging as a solo act in 2010 in Charlottesville, cutting his teeth with some regionally well-known musicians before moving to Atlanta in 2011 where he began gigging regularly and honing his solo material. In 2012 Dan moved to Brooklyn where he became a regular at the borough’s weekly songwriting club at a now defunct Irish pub on Smith Street and finally, in 2014, moved to DC and found a home base among other songwriters at the local music venue and watering hole, Gypsy Sally’s.

Lipton looks back on his travels fondly but sums up his musical journey succinctly, saying “I caught my stride in Atlanta, lost it in Brooklyn while recalibrating my songwriting to fit a less country-oriented audience, and then found my style again in DC.” Lipton began self-recording Breathing In along the way, with the bulk of the material tracked out in rented cabins from Maine to Virginia. This process came about based on cost and convenience but most of all because Dan was looking to reflect certain specific moods and experiences in his delivery.

“It’s collection of songs that seeks meaning in the everyday experiences of urban living, drinking and getting older” Lipton reflects. “I wanted to capture some measure of anticipation with no real resolution, which is why the album is called Breathing In.”