One of the year’s most unexpected and exciting collaborations has officially borne fruit, with Australia’s own Lime Cordiale and English actor and musician Idris Elba sharing “Apple Crumble” from their forthcoming mini-album, Cordi Elba.
Fans first received word of a collaboration earlier this year when Elba joined the Sydney duo onstage at the Enmore Theatre for a performance of “Unnecessary Things”. Asking the actor and musician if he wanted to guest on a new version of the track in the studio, things soon progressed, with longtime producer and co-writer David K Haddad overseeing a number of prolific sessions between the artists.
Now, fans have received a taster of what these sessions resulted in, with new single “Apple Crumble” officially released today.
A bouncy, breezy showcase of their respective talents, “Apple Crumble” is pure Lime Cordiale, albeit with the slick vocals of Elba added into the mix. To make things even more exciting though, “Apple Crumble” is set to be one of a few new tracks arriving from the collaboration, with the mini-album Cordi Elba on track for a January release.
“We wrote everything together,” Oli Liembach explains of the collaboration. “We were all writing lyrics – it wasn’t our music or his music, it was smack bang down the middle with every lyric.”
“I wanted to collaborate,” adds Elba. “We agreed about the vibe and the song was there. They were really open to ideas; it was an opportunity for me to write songs I normally wouldn’t write. Ultimately, this is a step into a new universe musically for me.”
Although he’d been a DJ since his teens, years before becoming an actor, Cordi Elba sees Elba unveiling his singing voice thanks to the confidence gained by working with Oli and Louis Liembach.
“They filled me with a lot of confidence,” he admits. “I come from a DJ background, have always rapped, but never considered myself a singer. They encouraged me to put vocals down, I didn’t expect to be singing.”
With Cordi Elba set for release in January, Lime Cordiale are looking ahead to the future. Rescheduling their upcoming national tour for April of 2022 (with a UK and Europe tour set to kick off the year), the group are already starting work on their third album, but admit that working with Idris Elba has given them a renewed focus of what’s to cone.
“We’ve been catapulted into new territory with Idris and this has inevitably influenced the future of Lime Cordiale,” explains Oli. “He gave us permission to break out of our genre and it’s going to be interesting where this takes us with new music.”
Lime Cordiale and Idris Elba’s “Apple Crumble” is out today, while Cordi Elba will be released on January 14th, 2022 via Chugg Music + 7Wallace Music.
Lime Cordiale Australian Tour April/May 2022
With special guests Teenage Dads, Illuka (all states) + Dulcie (WA only)
Thursday, April 7th, 2022
(Previously Friday, October 29th, 2021)
Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth, WA (18+)
Tickets: Oztix
Friday, April 8th, 2022
(Previously Saturday, October 30th, 2021)
Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth, WA (18+)
Tickets: Oztix
Tuesday, April 12th, 2022
(Previously Friday, October 22nd, 2021)
Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, VIC (All Ages)
Tickets: Ticketek
Wednesday, April 20th, 2022 (Sold Out)
(Previously Friday, October 15th, 2021)
Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, NSW (All Ages)
Thursday, April 21st, 2022 (Sold Out)
(Previously Saturday, October 16th, 2021)
Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, NSW (All Ages)
Wednesday, April 27th, 2022 (New Show)
Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, NSW (All Ages)
Tickets: Ticketek
Friday, May 6th, 2022
(Previously Saturday, October 9th, 2021)
Riverstage, Brisbane, QLD (All Ages)
Tickets: Ticketmaster
New Sydney show on sale from 12pm AEST, Friday, September 24th
Chugg Members pre-sale and Frontier Members pre-sale runs 24 hours from 11am local time, Thursday, September 23rd
