Let's Go Sailing...with Shana Levy

Although it's been available for a few months from Let's Go Sailing's website, their debut album The Chaos in Order is scheduled to be released nationally through GR2 Records on March 27th. LGS originally formed back in 2002 when Shana Levy (pictured above) decided to strike out on her own after serving as the keyboardist for the band Irving. Having written some material of her own, Shana felt that it would best be showcased through the formation of a group of her own: Let's Go Sailing was born.

When asked about the name of the group, Shana replies,

"When I was a kid we had a sailboat. My brother and I would drag these little plastic boats along in the water next to our boat and pretend there were little people in them. My dad put a bumper sticker on his Ford Elite that said, “Let’s go sailing.” A few years later there was a hurricane and we had to leave our house. When we came home, the backyard was trashed. I found a dead baby alligator in the roots of our ficus tree. And the boat was ruined; only half of it was sticking out of the water. I didn’t realize how fondly I’d look back on those times when we took the boat out.”

Armed with a background in classical piano, Shana brings forth a delicately tender voice that is backed by bittersweet yet upbeat music flavored with pianos and strings. Listening to the first part of the album brought back memories and sent me back into the past to listen to Ivy's debut Realistic. Delving deeper also brings with it playful spunk flavorly similar to Pony Up!. If you haven't given Shana a chance yet, try these tracks:


Let's Go Sailing - Icicles : The Chaos In Order

Let's Go Sailing - We Get Along : The Chaos In Order

Irving - L-O-V-E : Good Morning Beautiful

Like what you hear? Leave a comment with your name, e-mail, and the name of your favorite sailing vessel (or e-mail it to me) to be eligible to win a free copy of the album as well as a super-cool LGS T-shirt! I'll choose and notify a winner at random next Thursday.

Visit her website, her label GR2 Records, and become her friend on MySpace.

Check Shana out in a town near you:

03/14: Austin, TX @ 11:30 SXSW Showcase-Blender Bar at The Ritz
03/19: Santa Fe, New Mexico @ O'Shaughnessy with Elvis Perkins
03/20: Tucson, Arizona @ Solar Culture with Elvis Perkins
03/21: San Diego, California @ The Casbah with Elvis Perkins
03/22: Los Angeles, live on KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic
03/24: Los Angeles, California @ Largo with Elvis Perkins
03/25: San Francisco, California @ Cafe Du Nord with Elvis Perkins
03/26: Santa Cruz, California @ The Attic with Elvis Perkins
03/29: Portland, Oregon @ Doug Fir Lounge with Elvis Perkins
03/30: Seattle, Washington @ The Tractor Tavern with Elvis Perkins
04/03: Denver, Colorado @ Soiled Dove with Elvis Perkins
04/04: Omaha, Nebraska @ Sokol Underground with Elvis Perkins
04/05: Minneapolis, Minnesota @ 400 Bar with Elvis Perkins
04/06: Chicago, Illinois @ Schuba's with Elvis Perkins
04/10: New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge with Youth Group and Aqueduct
04/11: Brooklyn, NY @ Union Hall

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Other songs to chart your course with:

Styx - Come Sail Away : The Grand Illusion

David Gray - Sail Away : KBCO Studio C Volume 17 (original version appears on White Ladder)

The Chieftains - Setting Sail/Muineira De Frexido : Santiago