Dork accosts Lime Cordiale at Latitude to chat Idris Elba, post-pandemic touring, and their third album plans... Words: Finlay Holden. Photos: Patrick Gunning.

Aussie multi-instrumentals Lime Cordiale, led by Oli and Louis Leimbach, have been holed up down under while their second studio album caused a riot during lockdown. Having recently dropped an extended collaboration with none other than Idris Elba, the group are now back spreading their nonsense all over the globe with new tunes already on their way.

Two summers away from the UK and an all-out denial of adrenaline has had its effect on the brothers – "Who am I? What am I doing? I have no meaning in life!" – but the release of their second album, '14 Steps To A Better You', during this time helped to keep their extensive fanbase sane… not to mention it was an unforeseen success for the band too. "Everyone freaked out and thought, 'oh no, we can't release stuff with all this going on', so we had a free run at it," Oli grins. "We thought, 'fuck it, we're not holding onto this for another year or two', however long it was going to be. Everyone in Australia got money from the government to spend on our merch, so it was a winner!"

Having bolstered their discography with a record that pushed their weird and wacky appeal one step further along a gleeful track, they began looking for a creative partner to bounce ideas off for their next single, 'Apple Crumble'. "We were looking for a collaborator, someone that could offer something different," he continues. "We looked all around the world for something a bit quirky - we didn't want to default to the closest Australian act we could find; it'd be too obvious. Idris just happened to be in town, and once he knew we were looking, he volunteered immediately."