Cardiff integrates live looping, beatboxing and other non-traditional performance techniques into his live performances. "A storyteller at heart, Cardiff is renowned for his acoustic guitar-playing and soft voice, as well as the ingenious use of a digital looping pedal he performs with, which he uses to layer guitar and vocal effects over top of each other," Nick Roy noted in the "Queen's Journal." Cardiff has a wide variety of influences, and he has listed B.B. King, Ani DiFranco and Scott Merritt among them. Elvis Costello and Paul Simon are also among his favourite musicians. "I tend to like somebody whose lyrics will stand up on their own without the melody," says Cardiff.