Puma Blue will release his debut full-length In Praise of Shadows on January 29th via Blue Flowers. The forthcoming release described is a delirious dreamland of soulful vocals, D’Angelo-ish guitars and muted electronic beats. Its fourteen tracks are a contemplation on “the balance of light and dark, the painful things you have to heal from or accept, that bring you through to a better place” says the 25-year-old Puma Blue, real name Jacob Allen “It’s about finding light in darkness – and realising that it’s what got me here today.”

Puma Blue was plagued with insomnia, “for literally a decade, I just couldn’t sleep,” says the cult-acclaimed London songwriter/producer. That certainly helps to explain the hazy, late-night “voicemail ballads” of the early EP releases 2017’s Swum Baby and 2018’s Blood Loss.

In Praise of Shadows is an album that reflects on past relationships – “I never learnt to cherish her” Jacob laments on ‘Cherish (furs)’ – to pure love-laden soliloquies such as ‘Already Falling’ or ‘Sheets’, one of the albums most personal moments, which borrows a sample from the score of Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and repurposes it as a lilting love-song that Allen describes as “like a really personal note that you’d leave in the house to be found when you’ve got to head out early.”

Puma Blue
In Praise of Shadows
tracklist

Sweet Dreams
Cherish (furs)
Velvet Leaves
Snowflower
Already Falling
Sheets
Olive / Letter To ATL
Oil Slick
Silk Print
Is It Because
Opiate
Sleeping
Bath House
Super Soft

The accompanying video for “Velvet Leaves” draws a parallel between the subject of the song and the greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Orpheus journeys “through the veil” to rescue Eurydice from the underworld. In a film rich with beautifully crisp cinematography, director Harvey Pearson (Sam Smith, SG Lewis) re-imagines the ancient story with a contemporary twist, casting Jacob as a downcast Orpheus-like character reflecting on a failed attempt to bring his Eurydice (here re-imagined as a sister, played by Mia Gill) back from beyond.

In Praise of Shadows is now available to PRE-ORDER, with ‘Velvet Leaves’ provided as an instant download