Q&A: Lime Cordiale Talks Sustainability and New Album ‘Enough of The Sweet Talk’
AFTER A LONG-AWAITED TWO YEARS — Australia-based siblings Oliver and Louis Leimbach of Lime Cordiale are back with their latest album, Enough of The Sweet Talk.
The duo’s new LP has already seen a high altitude of success, debuting as a #1 ARIA album within the first week of its release. Enough of The Sweet Talk serves as the band’s third album that follows their highly-successful 2020 record, 14 Steps To A Better You.
The album tells the story of an ongoing relationship in chronological order, as a reflection of separate relationships and experiences that Oliver and Louis endured over the years while creating the record. During these last few years, the duo’s success has snowballed greatly, as they have recently come off a sold-out North American headline tour this Spring and are heading into playing their largest Australian shows yet this Fall.
Luna sat down with Oliver and Louis following the release of Enough of The Sweet Talk to chat about the new album, sustainability in their personal styles, and who they’ve been streaming on their shared Spotify account this summer. Read the interview below.
LUNA: Congrats on the release of Enough of The Sweet Talk! This is your first LP release since your mini album with Idris Elba in 2022, Cordi Elba, so you’ve been working on it for some time now. How does it feel to finally be able to share this new chapter in your work with your listeners – both old and new?
CORDIALE: Yeah, at some point we needed to get selfish and just work on our own music for a little while. You go through so many ups and downs when recording an album but now that it’s out we’re bloody stoked.
LUNA: You’ve explained that the premise of this album is showing the course of a relationship in chronological order. What are some other themes or key messages that you aimed to communicate in the album?
CORDIALE: The story of the album is set out in chronological order. It spans the course of Strangers to Friends, Friends to Lovers, Lovers to Enemies and then Enemies back to Strangers again. Because we write songs as brothers with separate relationships and experiences over the years, we wanted to format this album as if it’s one single shared experience. The album is definitely not about one person, but I like the fact that it could be.
LUNA: Who were some artists that you turned to for inspiration while working on this album?
CORDIALE: It’s a super broad spectrum. Nathaniel Rateliff to Phoenix to Colin Hay to Quincy Jones and always The Beatles.
LUNA: You recently wrapped up a sold-out North American tour this Spring and will be touring the UK, Europe and Australia starting in August. What have you been doing to enjoy downtime in between touring so far, and how do you keep yourself at bay while on the road?
CORDIALE: We just finished what our manager likes to call our “wedding tour.” We did six weeks in Europe attending three best mates weddings and were knackered by the end of it. We really should’ve just been relaxing at home. We love to spend time on our farm and surf every day. That’s the ultimate relaxation.
LUNA: I noticed you started your own carbon-neutral brewing company, Largo. Given your background interest in sustainability, I’d love to hear more about what inspired you two to start this initiative and what are some of your ongoing goals for the company?
CORDIALE: Everyone wants to start their own beer so when the offer came up we jumped at it. At the end of the day, it’s a consumable product and we didn’t want to create a whole bunch of trash, so we decided to make it with as little environmental impact as possible.
LUNA: While on the topic of sustainability, I also noticed that you have an interest in vintage fashion! What would you say are some key elements in each of your personal styles, and what is currently your favorite vintage clothing piece in your collection right now?
CORDIALE: Most things that we wear day to day and on stage are from second-hand stores. We’ve started bringing along the screen printer and secondhand shirts to a lot of our shows and people can get custom designs printed then and there. We really struggle with the idea that we like to call ourselves environmentalists but then have a heavy carbon footprint. We are currently in the process of making a documentary about this journey. Watch this space!
LUNA: While listening to this Enough of The Sweet Talk, I immediately felt like it is the perfect summer album – the timing of the release is perfect! What are some songs that have been in your summer music rotation so far?
CORDIALE: We share a Spotify account so every song that he saves I inevitably end up listening to it vice versa. Some recent saves are from Forest Claudette, Flyte, Amber Mark and Big Thief.
LUNA: Finally, beyond the tour and the release of the album, what are you looking forward to most in the coming months? Have you two formed any new goals you’d like to achieve within the next few months of 2024?
CORDIALE: Yeah we’re looking at setting up our own studio. We have so much great equipment that we’ve collected over the years and it’s scattered between a few houses. I can’t wait to get it all in one place and start working on the next album. Or maybe even Cordi Elba 2.
