Rain Of Animals

There are some musical duos so meant-to-be-together, you’d hear folks say they must be “joined at the hip.”

When we first saw them in concert, it was startlingly clear that this pair sat very squarely in that category.

World-roving troubadors, Rain Of Animals, a richly euphonious collaboration between Pepita Emmerichs (Oh Pep!) and Theodore Barnard (Wire & Wool) grew from their love of all things mandolin, fiddle, guitar, harmony vocals, bluegrass, old-time, swing, and much, much more. Spanning originals to arrangements of classics and rare gems they’ve unearthed on their travels, their sound is both new and old; enchanting in its instrumental wizardry and musical integrity.

More than happy to keep it mellow and acoustic, the duo first met and formed after an impromptu jam session in a legendary Melbourne bar in 2018, and they have continued to perform, write and tour together ever since.

Like many musicians who had such a tough time coping with the frustrations created by the pandemic, while prevented from performing for others, they busied themselves writing new songs and re-modelling older material, determined to make the best impression when they got the chance to re-emerge. As a result, they released two albums in 2022, one instrumental and the other, song-based.

Recorded during the very depths of lockdown in rural Perthshire, Nali’s World represented a previous few years’ worth of instrumental fiddle tunes that were composed by Pepi and Theo throughout their musical adventures in Australia, Scotland and Europe.

Inspired by the landscapes and people they encountered along the way, guitar, fiddle, and mandolin never far from reach, the collection was self-produced and recorded (playing all instruments including double bass, cello, mandocello & tenor guitar) in their home-based studio.

The tracks were sent to respected Nashville engineer Sean Sullivan (Molly Tuttle, Sturgill Simpson) for him to work his magic.

Friends of the Cologne-based band, Stereo Naked (also represented here), they are very much kindred spirits and have performed together and collaborated on different projects from time to time.