
After a move from Boulder to Brooklyn, in 2007, Caroline Polacheck, Aaron Pfenning and Patrick Wimberly started developing their hypnotic, synth-pop sound. Their first release was an acclaimed 7-inch and digital DL single for "Evident Utensil." The NME called it "a charming pop oddity," Exclaim! gave it "immediate cult status," and RCRDLBL.com deemed it "the best single from a Brooklyn band since like TV on the Radio or something." Comparisons were also made to The Knife, Of Montreal, and Yaz(!). The B-side of this limited 7" was a psyched-out remix by MGMT.
The band spent the summer of '08 touring the US with Ariel Pink, and In the early fall, Chairlift's popularity exploded when the band's catchy pop single "Bruises" got chosen for the colorful new iPod Nano-Chromatic commercial. In October, Chairlift played a well-received series of CMJ shows before heading to Canada to join Yeasayer on a brief US tour. By November, they were in Europe for their first overseas tour. They rounded out the year on the west coast playing a few dates with Vampire Weekend.