A couple of years after it concluded in 2008, I began watching The Wire. I was at least two seasons into the brilliant HBO drama when I discovered that Stringer Bell was not played by an actor from the American Northeast, like the majority of those on the show, or even anywhere else in the country for that matter. The fact that the words coming out of String's mouth were spoken by an Englishman blew my mind. (If you're wondering, yes, it took me even longer to realize it was the same story with McNulty. Oh, England, you'll forever have us beat at the accent game, politeness, and 17th century colonization.) Having since learned who Idris Elba is and the other talents he possesses outside of acting, my surprise was somewhat tempered on a recent discovery: Cordi Elba. 

Released in January, the six-song EP is essentially Elba fronting the Australian indie duo Lime Cordiale. If that sentence makes no sense, you're in the same boat I was a few weeks ago. He's not here as a DJ, as one might expect given some of his previous engagements. Instead, he serves as a singer, for lack of a better word, his low-end drawl effectively adding a dimension to the music supplied by the Sydneysiders.

Each song catchy in its own right, Cordi Elba collectively ranks as some of my favorite 21:01 of music so far in 2022. It's rock, it's pop, it's this, that and whatever you want to call it. Above all else, it's fun and full of swagger.