In Praise Of Shadows

Now comes the long awaited debut album In Praise of Shadows via Blue Flowers. In Praise of Shadows is a delirious dreamland of soulful vocals, D_„ŽAngelo-ish guitars and muted electronic beats. Its fourteen tracks are a contemplation on _„ñthe 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 _„ñIt_„Žs about finding light in darkness - and realising that it_„Žs what got me here today._„

The album astonishing in its openness, from bittersweet reflections on past relationships - _„ñI 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_„Žs Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and repurposes it as a lilting love-song that Allen describes as _„ñlike a really personal note that you_„Žd leave in the house to be found when you_„Žve got to head out early._„ Nowhere is that openness more apparent though than on lead single Velvet Leaves. Propelled by a crisp hip-hop beat and culminating in reverb-drenched wails reminiscent of one of Allen_„Žs biggest influences, Jeff Buckley, the track explores an incident that still leaves him near panic attacks today.