Members of Gomez, Phantom Planet and Maroon 5 team up for Operation Aloha.

The 14 musicians who make up Operation Aloha had an amazing opportunity. With a month of free time in between tours, recording and the general chaos of their schedules, each musician flew to the to the beautiful island of Maui, Hawaii to live in a strange compound of tree houses with friends whom they respect and share common interests with. Captivated by the magnificence of the island, members of Maroon 5, Gomez and Phantom Planet, among others, decided to plug in some instruments and see what happens. The end result is a collection of songs that captures the tranquility, freedom and spirit of Hawaii. All this came out on their self-released and self-titled debut, released on May 12th, 2009.

Allowing themselves to step away from their usual roles and be inspired by bohemian living and a no-constraints approach to songwriting and recording, Operation Aloha experiments with a love of blues inspired rock and Hawaiian folk music, to create a clever collection of songs that draws from the fantasy of escape.

From the charming swagger of "Failure" to the emotional depth of "Phone Booth", to the slack key coloring of "Ika Pono" and the organic harmonies on "Elephant Pharmacy", Operation Aloha is a stunning album of naturalistic pop and a uniquely conceptual work from a group of talented musicians. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.