Described as having a transcendent live show by indie radio touchstone, KEXP, their debut full-length, 2009"s Listen to the Thunder (Mt. Fuji Records, produced by Grammy Award-winner Kory Kruckenberg), was the culmination of years of playing together at every kind of gig imaginable and a faithful document of who The Maldives are as a live band. This time around the band took a different approach by working with Shawn Simmons (The Head and The Heart, Grand Hallway, Lemolo) who brought the band"s assembled creativity together in a different way and explores their combined vision with expertly crafted songs that will transport you to another time and place altogether.Singer/songwriter Jason Dodson is a secret cinephile and his love of film sets the stage for much of The Maldives" music. It permeates everything from their cinematic arrangements to the characters that populate Dodson"s tales as they search for love, redemption, and a good time. The title track, Muscle for the Wing, is a plaintive plea to keep a love close while the sparse ballad My Way questions whether it"s even there. The rockers on the album (Come On Come On, Raven Riley, It"s Like, You Know, and Lately I) will get your hips swaying and your pulse pumping, but it"s the songs that complete the soundtrack (I"m Gonna Try, Go Back to Virginia, Blood On the Highway, Sallie May) that will transport you to another time and place altogether. This is where Dodson"s storytelling culminates into characters and places that blur the lines between fiction and nonfiction, the past and the present.