Warning: This article contains mention of suicide.
Puma Blue – also known as Jacob Allen – is a name you’ll want to get to know in time for the release of his debut album. In Praise of Shadows comes out on January 29th 2021, by London-based the record label Blue Flowers. The singer-songwriter gained a following on Soundcloud in 2014, and his long-time fans are being rewarded now with an album entirely made up of new music.
In addition to the album announcement, Puma Blue has released its first lead single, ‘Velvet Leaves’. It comes with a video directed by Harvey Pearson, comprised of home movies and snapshots of daily life before an almost-tragedy. It is inspired by Jean Cocteau’s 1950 adaptation of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. For Allen, this bears particular significance; ‘Velvet Leaves’ also functions as the evidence of his experience of processing the near loss of his sister, five years ago. Watch it below.
In a press release, Puma Blue wrote the following, “On the summer of 2015, my sister attempted suicide. It was a lot to process personally and for us as a family. I always wanted to deal with it in song but I never had the language, lyrically or musically, to grapple with such a complex issue. Then last year, I realised I finally had a way of dealing with that.
“I’d like to think it ended up being a hopeful song, about the beauty of the way she got through it, and we all got through it. But there are definitely elements of the song which are just about how dark that veil is”.
In Praise of Shadows follows two previous EPs, Swum Baby and Blood Loss, and 2019’s live album on his own. This includes a curated selection of his previous work, including his really melancholy take on the Disney classic, ‘A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes’ from Cinderella. Puma Blue’s clear talent comes forth, interspersed with moments of intimate chat with the audience; from the recording, you would assume he was playing to a small handful of close friends.
View this post on Instagramnew song, ‘Velvet Leaves’ out Wednesday pre-save link in bio photography by my angel @olivkh
However you come across him – a bedroom producer, a musician for the digital, voicemail age, or right now, as an established artist with a debut album incoming – what you can really tell about Puma Blue is just how hard he works. Everything is perfectly crafted. Despite being careful to thank the teams around him, Puma Blue is clearly at the helm of his creation. Over the course of his career (so far), he has been the singer, the songwriter and the producer; he has sold out shows in cities all over the world and his current Spotify releases have millions of streams.
Puma Blue’s previous work is chilled and “gritty lo-fi” – and plagued with insomnia. Shore Fire reports that Allen’s early EPs were informed by the fact that “for literally a decade, I just couldn’t sleep.” This has produced what they went on to call his “hazy, late-night ‘voicemail ballads’.”
In Praise of Shadows, likewise, is shaping up to be a complex album with complicated themes. ‘Velvet Leaves’ offers a sense of how honest the singer is prepared to be. ‘Sheets’, the album’s sixth track, samples the film score of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by Michael Gondry, which Allen has rewritten as “like a really personal note that you’d leave in the house to be found when you’ve got to head out early.” It feels like the relationship that Allen constructed with a crowd in a single night during on his own. is a mere glimpse of the intimacy that Puma Blue finds in sharing music.
In Praise of Shadows tracklist:
1. Sweet Dreams
2. Cherish (furs)
3. Velvet Leaves
4. Snowflower
5. Already Falling
6. Sheets
7. Olive / Letter To ATL
8. Oil Slick
9. Silk Print
10. Is It Because
11. Opiate
12. Sleeping
13. Bath House
14. Super Soft
