Two sound diaries, a new awakening and a brighter future.
This year, Puma Blue surprised with antichamber and extchambertwo deeply introspective works that read like diary entries; a marked contrast to the sensuality and passionate energy of Holy Waters. Now, with the announcement of his next album Croak Dream and the release of the singles “Desire” and “Croak Dream”, Jacob Allen He reflects on vulnerability, creative processes, the emotional honesty that guides his music and the energy he finds on stage. Between memories of their shows in Indie Rocks Forum! and its versatility between formats —full band, intimate and DJ set—the composer also explores how to balance sadness, joy and artistic evolution in a project that never stops transforming.
Indie Rocks!: This year you released two albums, antichamber and extchamber. Your work has always been intimate and passionate, but these two feel like reading a diary: more introspective, more melancholic. Why did you choose that sound change?
Puma Blue: It was out of necessity. I couldn't write a fun or band-oriented project. I had to write something personal. I wasn't even going to release the music; at first it was literally like journaling, just for me. Then I shared it with a couple of friends—maybe that was the mistake—and they told me I should share it with the world. So I ended up putting it out, but at first I didn't imagine anyone else would hear it. It came from a very deep place. And now, in retrospect, I'm grateful that I was able to do that and expand what can be Puma Blue.
GO!: This set of songs ended up divided into two albums. How did you decide what went in each one?
PB: The first had mainly songs where I sing and play guitar, as well as semi-classical and ambient pieces. The second brings together everything I did in that period that didn't fit into the first: purely ambient pieces, without songs, without vocals, with many electronic elements and strange samples that I was very attached to but that had no home on the first album. That's just how it was.
GO!: What role does fragility play in your way of working?
PB: It's like the starting point. I can't write anything good without being vulnerable. I have tried it, but it doesn't work. If I start from a fragile and honest place, it doesn't guarantee that the song will be good, but it is a good start. It feels more human.
GO!: What changes between these two albums and your next album, Croak Dream?
PB: That the previous two, although I love them very much, are not very fun. This new one is about having fun; it is heavier. I wanted to make another album with the band and create something that would be fun to play live. And honestly, the show on Indie Rocks! from last year were an inspiration: I wanted to have more material for the stage, songs that didn't exist yet.
GO!: “Desire” is the first track on the new album. Why choose it as your first single?
PB: I wanted something that would kick in the door and clearly show what the album is about. It's short, direct, I love the drums and it's the first sensual song I've written in a long time. I felt like it was a kind of reintroduction: “ok, the acoustic/ambient side goes to sleep for a while, I'm back to making spicier music.”
GO!: Your music always touches on vulnerability, grief, insomnia, passion. How do you relate to those emotions today? Is writing from sadness still a refuge?
PB: Both things. I will always write from a sincere place. I will always be sad and I will always be happy. Before perhaps I wrote only from sadness; Now I also write from joy. This album has very sad songs and others that come from a positive place, something that I left out before.
GO!: You are a complete machine: lyrics and music. How do you decide the balance between what you feel and how it sounds? Sadness with powerful melodies, joy with calm passages…
PB: I let the music decide. I try to be a good vehicle. Music is much bigger than me. If you stop blocking the flow, the music tells you where it wants to go. I have ideas, of course, but if you listen well, the music shows it to you.
GO!: In less than a year you played full band in Indie Rocks!then an intimate show and now a DJ set. How do you prepare for such extreme changes in such a short time?
PB: The truth: we didn't prepare anything for the intimate show. We didn't rehearse and we didn't know the setlist until a few hours before. There were songs we had never played without the band. But if you are “practical” in life, those moments are not so scary. In some way we were prepared. And the same with the DJ set: I got a heads up last week, but I've been DJing a lot these last two years—and for a decade—so it's fun, not stressful.
GO!: You are a great listener and a great songwriter. As an audience, we worship music almost as something sacred. What do you expect from the audience?
PB: I don't know if I have expectations, but I hope that people connect and that they don't get distracted by the phone. That we can be together, open to that kind of “worship” of the music, not of me or the band, but of the spirit of the music itself.
IR!: In the studio you achieve very deep emotions in a single take. What is the difference between Puma Blue in the studio and Puma Blue live?
PB: In the studio everything is more raw in a different way: the ideas are new, like babies. On tour, those ideas grow, they change. Sometimes weeks later I think “I wish this version was the one on the album”… but it's too late. Live, ideas become another animal.
GO!: For those who are just getting into your music: what would be the best song to start with?
PB: God… I don't know. If it were me, I would choose “Want Me”. It doesn't have all the elements—it doesn't get heavy or anything—but it's almost a statement: there is dissonance, there is song from the heart, there is minimalism. There you can hear how I think about the guitar and the production. It's between dub and jazz, I think.
Indie Rocks!: In closing: describe Puma Blue in three words.
Puma Blue: Ugh, difficult… I would say: creepy, sensual and vulnerable.
