Ahead of the release of her highly anticipated debut album, Idle Mind, Anna Mieke has shared a beautiful new single, 'Creature'.

The Wicklow-born musician reflected on the origins of 'Creature' in a statement:

“Lyrically, Creature was inspired by a performance I saw a few years ago in a tent in a field in Tipperary - of a dancer creating shadows behind a hanging sheet in response to music. That dancer was Marion Cronin, who in fact is the dancer in the accompanying video to this song. So inspiration for words came from a combination of that, and from Oscar Wilde’s story of The Happy Prince. People can take meaning from the words however which way they want - for me, at least for now it’s a reminder of, despite the facade of adulthood, the vulnerability of people and the value of acknowledging the child-like side of us.

I’d only really felt the song was partly ‘ready’ the night before this recording, and so the actual recorded performance of this song ended up being quite improvised at times. I sent Matthew Jacobson (percussion) the initial version of this track as he was driving to the studio in Kildare, asking if he’d be up for having a jam over it, which he did, and Conor Cunningham added flute - there’s a beautiful interplay between the screeching of cymbals and bird-like flute that I love. I’m very much into humming, and had always felt the song needed a collective voice, so Brían Mac Gloinn and I added a few layers of hums for good measure. It was absolutely the most satisfying song to record for the album - most likely because of the spontaneity of recording it.”

The upcoming album, Idle Mind, is set for independent release on April 26, on 12” vinyl, CD and digital. You can pre-order the album now at www.annamieke.com or from Bandcamp.

Anna has also shared a music video for 'Creature', which sees dancer Marion Cronin move freely in response to the music, using the themes and the lyrics for inspiration. Take a look at the video, shot by Steve O'Connor, below:

To celebrate the release of Idle Mind, Anna will be playing five shows at venues at across the country, including Spirit Store in Dundalk (April 24), Plugd in Cork (25), Unitarian Church in Dublin (26), Roisin Dubh in Galway (27) and Nellie Fred's in Dingle (May 5).