Oli Leimbach is in a thoughtful mood. And who could blame him? The young musician, one half of the sibling duo Lime Cordiale, has had a day of interviews, and the constant questions have flung him into a distinctly reflective mood. You can hear it in his voice – the way it goes soft and deep – and in the long pauses he leaves before answering, mulling over every word.
“Mine and [bandmate] Louis’ real struggle has always been getting in the can what we really feel is a Lime Cordiale sound,” Leimbach says over the phone from his home in Redfern. “That’s been the struggle.”
Oli and Louis started making music together in high school, and their influences include everything from The Beatles and the Beach Boys to The Strokes and The Growlers, just to mention a few. And yeah, although all those touchstones were certainly apparent on their first EP, released in 2012, they have never been a derivative band, or a pair of musicians happy to simply ape their heroes.
They’ve decisively proved that uniqueness as well, what with the release of their first full-length album, Permanent Vacation. A jubilant mix of pop hooks, anthemic choruses, and the crushing indie rock instrumental breaks that they have forged their reputation upon, Vacation is a stunning artistic statement.
Lead single ‘Temper Temper’ sums up the polish on Permanent Vacation
“It’s a big thing releasing an album,” Leimbach says. “We’ve always thought of ourselves as a band that really pumps out a lot of music, but I don’t think we are necessarily that band in actuality – we’re pretty fussy and can spend a lot of time on tunes. We do second guess ourselves.
“In January 2016, we thought we were going to go ahead and record an album, and then for some reason we changed our minds and ended up writing another 20 to 30 songs, just so we definitely knew that we had the right songs for the album. We wanted to make the first album something that we were really happy with; we didn’t want to rush into it.”
In Sydney you have to face a lot of pressure. It’s a lot of hard work, especially for an artist or musician
The 13 songs on the debut were written over a period of about three years, and the record largely serves as a reflection of what it’s like to be a 20-something year old living in Sydney – and perhaps also offers a momentary escape from it.
“There’s a song on there called ‘What Is Growing Up?’ and I think that kind of sums up a lot of the album; this refusal to grow up. In Sydney you have to face a lot of pressure. You have to earn money to pay your rent, which is always really high, and it’s a lot of hard work, especially for an artist or musician. Even our dad, who’s a documentary film maker – his whole family calls him Peter Pan because he’s refused to grow.” Leimbach laughs.
Lime Cordiale launched Permanent Vacation with some off-the-wall promos
“Every song on the album takes us into a different head space. But I really like the first one, ‘Naturally’. I think it really feels like a distillation of us over the course of the band’s whole life. It’s got a sort of beachy vibe to it, and the lyrics are very literal and personal. It’s called ‘Naturally’ because it’s about being exactly who you are, and it talks about picking up your girlfriend in your rust-bucket car with stains on your shirt or whatever – but it’s just kind of about loving you the way you are.”
When it comes to the specifics of their sound, a lot has happened since the duo started out on acoustic bass and guitar. As the venues changed (and the crowds grew bigger – not to mention drunker) so did the sound. “We felt a lot more confident with what we had, so we weren’t necessarily exploring and trying to find our sound. It was more like we were refining it, and trying to get the sound that felt most us,” Leimbach explains.
“I feel like there’s quite a big contrast of sounds on the album. There’s slow Beatles-y ballads, and then more up-tempo stuff like ‘Temper Temper’, or darker tunes like ‘Risky Love’. Our producer Dave [Hammer] was really good at refining everything for us. When we first met him, he wanted to talk a lot about the sound that we wanted and the influences that we had. Then once we had a goal of what we wanted to achieve, he just wanted to really push to make sure we did that.”
The band give us a peek at what it’s like releasing a debut album
Meeting Hammer was also the key to finishing the album. Until then, the pair hadn’t found a producer they were absolutely comfortable with – but with Hammer they instantly hit it off. “We did two songs with Dave at the end of last year. And that felt really, really good, so we moved from there and did a few more, and then a few more, and then we ended up doing the whole album.
“You’ve got to really get on with your producer. You spend so much time with them that you’ve got to be on the same page. They’re directing the course and where you’re going and what you’re doing, but you’ve got to be completely equal with them too. You don’t want them telling you what to do, and you don’t want to have to tell them what to do. It’s like having another band member for that course of recording the album, so it’s pretty important to have a really good personal relationship – even more than it is to have a professional relationship.”
You’ve got to really get on with your producer. You spend so much time with them that you’ve got to be on the same page
Indeed, the album was recorded in Hammer’s own studio, and not being on the clock to finish at a certain time made a world of difference for the band. “We were just recording the album and doing that ’till it was done, really,” Leimbach explains.
“We had time to experiment. Like it’s been really fun putting saxophones through autotune plugins and mucking around with stuff like that, and feeling like we’re finding sounds that were different to anything we’ve done before. We’ve always wanted to explore stuff like that in the recording process, but we’ve also always had to record as quickly as possible, just because it gets expensive every extra day you add on. But this time we just spent months in the studio.”
The new clips have involved some pretty clever visual trickery
Following the release of Permanent Vacation, the boys will be taking the record on the road, hitting 16 sates across the country from October to December. They couldn’t be more excited. “We’re really pumped,” Leimbach laughs.
But what’s the plan after that? Uncharacteristically, Leimbach doesn’t even take a second to think. “I’m pretty keen to get back into writing.” he says. “We’ve been recording most of this year, so we haven’t been doing any writing really. It’s going to be so good once this tour finishes just to kick back a little bit and do some of that. But we also want to explore overseas a little bit more. Our dad is American, so we’ve got some family and support over there.
“But yeah, I guess the bottom line is just that we’re going to keep writing and playing shows – whether the album blows up or whether it flops, the end result of both of those situations would just be to release another album.”
Permanent Vacation is out now through Chugg. Lime Cordiale play the Metro Theatre on Saturday November 25.
