Pop-classical ensemble Listing Ship originated in Los Angeles, CA, where songwriters Lyman Chaffee (guitar, banjo, vocals) and Heather Lockie (vocals, viola) established the project. At the outset they operated under the name Leather Hyman, an anagrammatic play on the letters of their given names. After bassist and synthesizer player Pablo Garcia came aboard, the trio issued its first album, Host Body, during January 1997. The follow-up, Sunshine and Other Forms of Radiation, appeared on the Orchard label four years later in April 2000. By the time Dance Class Revolution arrived in 2002 on True Classical, the group had adopted the more approachable moniker Listing Ship and incorporated drummer Matt Stein. In October 2005, while readying its fourth album Time to Dream, a press release enumerated the expanded lineup beyond Chaffee and Lockie to encompass Shawn Lockie (vocals), Julie Carpenter (violin), Laura Steenberger (acoustic bass), Michael Whitmore (vibraphone, guitar, banjo, mandolin), and Kyle C. Kyle (drums). True Classical subsequently issued Time to Dream in January 2006, featuring all of the above personnel together with additional musicians.
