With his new record Croak Dream, Puma Blue (real name Jacob Allen) returns to the spectral intimacy that first won him a cult following, now reimagined with the raw, instinctive energy of his live band. The album fuses lo-fi jazz balladry with jungle breaks, krautrock textures and trip-hop atmosphere, drawing comparisons to Portishead, Jeff Buckley, and D’Angelo. Written in solitude and brought to life in collaboration, Croak Dream was conjured from tape loop sessions at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, co-produced and engineered by Sam Petts-Davies (The Smile, Frank Ocean) where the band improvised to fragments of Allen’s songs they’d never fully heard. The result is a dreamlike collage of baritone sax-drenched ballads and restless grooves: tender, feverish, and alive. This record marks a daring evolution for Puma Blue, balancing bold sonic experimentation with raw emotional clarity, tailor-made for the stage.
