ANNA MIEKE
LOCATION
Wicklow, IE
GENRE
Experimental Folk, Almost Folk
LABELS
Nettwerk
Anna Mieke’s deft songwriting and enveloping compositions have asserted her as a vital voice amongst Ireland’s alt-folk genre. The Irish multi-instrumentalist and songwriter based in Wicklow, Ireland, toes the line between folk forms and vivid dreamscapes, drawing on traditional and contemporary motifs.
She is the winner of Best Act (2022) in The Irish Times
She was nominated for Choice Music Prize 2022 album OTY
The lyrically ornate and instrumental delicacy of her work, alongside flowing atmospheric arrangements, contributes a challenging, emphatic and new voice to alt-folk. The release of the Wicklow-based artist’s critically acclaimed debut album, Idle Mind from 2019, garnered Anna Mieke a nomination in the 'Best Emerging Act’ category at the RTÉ Folk Awards. Early 2022 saw her headline tours across Spain, UK, Ireland and further afield, with a week-long residency in New York (May 2022), collaborating with NYC-based musicians and composers. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, outside of her solo material, Anna Mieke played cello with HEX, a Cork-based experimental outfit, and has developed her vocals as one-third of the singing group, Rufous Nightjar.
Across her career, she has shared stages with Lankum, Lisa Hannigan, This Is The Kit and Rozi Plain, performed at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and collaborated with Crash Ensemble and Adrian Crowley. These varying outlets of creative expression are integral to her distinct and timeless sound. Anna Mieke’s long-awaited second album, Theatre, which she recorded with Nick Rayner and features contributions from long-standing bandmates Ryan Hargadon and Matthew Jacobson, will be released on November 18th, 2022.
Siobhan Long, The Irish Times ★★★★:
“A deliciously bearable lightness of being defines Anna Mieke’s debut album. It’s a strikingly confident collection of 10 songs, full of blue sky thinking and wide open horizons... Idle Mind is a slow burner (in the very best sense) that promises many fresh revelations with each return visit. A deliriously renewable energy source”
The Thin Air:
“Indeed, Idle Mind is not just a stunning debut record, nor is it just an amazing Irish record: it’s a record that proves Mieke to be one of the most promising artists on the Irish independent sphere and mature musician and songwriter whose work deserves to be heard far and wide”
The Observer – album review (4/5*):
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/nov/27/anna-mieke-theatre-review-the-irish-
"singer-songwriters-spellbinding-follow-up ...the mesmeric artistry of her second album."
The Sunday Times – album review (4/5*):
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/best-new-albums-of-2022-so-far-3kncz7ktz
"There are hints of Joanna Newsom and Nick Mulvey’s haunted folk on the Irish singer-
songwriter’s densely woven and richly detailed tapestry of music and words. Lyrics that are
poetic and prosaic, and textures busy with guitar, harp, cello and woodwind, cast an
enveloping spell."
MOJO - album review (4/5). Larger boxed review with lead press photo):
"Her debut album, Idle Mind, now sounds like a stepping stone to Theatre, eight lengthy
bouts of exquisite thrumming folk, like dreamtime. Multiple colours – including clarinet,
violin, harp and harmonium – are painted with restraint, over which Mieke’s lulling voice
amplifies the humid conditions.
Uncut - album review (8/10)
"Beguiling and really rather wonderful."
Narc. Magazine - album review (4/5):
https://narcmagazine.com/album-review-anna-mieke-theatre/
"It’s a journey through fields of mirrors, scattered with damselflies flittering as you languidly
flow into the sea, drifting in your senses impelled by the purity of Anna’s vocals."
Folk Radio UK – album review (positive):
https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2022/11/anna-mieke-theatre/
“It is a heady spaghetti tangle of passing feelings, temporary thrills and vivid, heavy real-
world matter all wrapped together in a pure, acoustic folk dish that is palatable and lush.”
Guitar World:
"'For A Time', the second preview we’ve gotten of her forthcoming album, 'Theatre', is just as impressive; a lush, beautifully orchestrated composition that showcases her talents as an arranger and as a vocalist."
The Revue:
“Combination of Agnes Obel’s symphonic experimentation and Aldous Harding’s lyrical creativity.”
Date
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