Duo to bring Celtic sounds to old church

AS part of Celtic duo Half Light’s spring tour the pair of musicians will be heading to Bendigo later this month.

Rennie Pearson and Bob McNeil will be performing at the Ballarat Trades Hall and sharing their blend of traditional folk music and original songs inspired by Scotland and Ireland.

The duo takes their inspiration from a range of music styles and they transform old songs into fresh sounds.

While they’ve only been playing as Half Light a bit more than a year, Pearson and McNeil both have extensive music experience, touring individually and in groups.

“Me and Bob have known each other for a long time in the Wellington Celtic music scene,” said Pearson.

“As I was growing up learning Celtic music, I started going to the pub at around 14 and Bob was there so I got to know him.”

After working on music together, the pair decided to form a duo.

“We’re both quite creative in that we don’t just stick to the bones of the traditional stuff and we like writing our own music,” Pearson said.

“We found that as we were playing music together, we were getting really, really creative and coming up with these awesome tunes so we decided to form a duo.

“We liked finding these hypnotic grooves and cool and dark kind of driving rhythms and melodies that put you not a bit of a trance.”

Pearson said he hopes the audience can be transported to a special place during the performance.

“I hope people get lost in the storytelling, humour and enchanting music and come out feeling uplifted and like they’ve been transported to people far away,” he said.

“It may also provide some connection to people with Celtic roots perhaps to their ancestors.”

Half Light will play at the Church on the Hill on Saturday 11 November from 7.30pm. Tickets can be purchased at renniepearsonmusic.com.