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PUMA BLUE - HOLY WATERS
ARTIST:
TITLE:
Holy Waters
LABEL:
CATNO:
BFMLP002VX
STYLE:
FORMAT:
Vinyl record
DESCRIPTION:
Downbeat Electronica, Ethereal Soul & Funk Pressed on Ltd Edition Blue Vinyl & Includes 20 Page Booklet
Death nestles like a sweet creature at the heart of Holy Waters, the highly anticipated follow-up to 2021’s In Praise of Shadows, via Blue Flowers. It’s less a morbid study in mortality, more a chronicle of the graciousness within each repeated cycle of life, death and rebirth, arriving eventually at a gentle affirmation to himself, to the listener, at the album’s close, to keep going, “don’t let the dark take you whole”. It’s the hope-tinged bleakness that gets you.
A substantial leap in Jacob’s artistry; extraordinary multitudes of hurt and relief are journeyed in his writing, navigating the spaces between grief and elation, and the strange semblances between solitude and community. Across its eleven tracks, his voice is a gossamer fabric delighting in the brightest language as he retraces every path walked in the harshest years of his life with a startling sincerity, looking each face of grief in the bloodshot eye. For the most part, he accepts it.
Recorded with his live band over the course of two visits to Eastbourne’s Echo Zoo Studios, a joy permeates each sonic corner of Holy Waters, the studio techniques more analogue and experimental than his previous work, but sounding fuller, richer, killing what ego was left in Puma Blue and paying their band-centric debts proudly. Inspired still by luminaries from Jeff Buckley to Björk, more important to Holy Waters was Portishead’s inexplicable marriage of a live band and production, and the improvisational work of Can and Hendrix. This is an album that can be devoured late at night with headphones as much as it can be blasted on the open road.
While Holy Waters might be his darkest work to date – even when compared to the moreish sadness flooding his breakthrough EPs Swum Baby (2017) and Blood Loss (2018) – it seems to find Puma Blue in a better place than ever. It’s as if death being the centrifuge to the album has made the beautiful moments that remain all the more beautiful; after all the sorrow and pain has passed, Holy Waters basks in them.
Death nestles like a sweet creature at the heart of Holy Waters, the highly anticipated follow-up to 2021’s In Praise of Shadows, via Blue Flowers. It’s less a morbid study in mortality, more a chronicle of the graciousness within each repeated cycle of life, death and rebirth, arriving eventually at a gentle affirmation to himself, to the listener, at the album’s close, to keep going, “don’t let the dark take you whole”. It’s the hope-tinged bleakness that gets you.
A substantial leap in Jacob’s artistry; extraordinary multitudes of hurt and relief are journeyed in his writing, navigating the spaces between grief and elation, and the strange semblances between solitude and community. Across its eleven tracks, his voice is a gossamer fabric delighting in the brightest language as he retraces every path walked in the harshest years of his life with a startling sincerity, looking each face of grief in the bloodshot eye. For the most part, he accepts it.
Recorded with his live band over the course of two visits to Eastbourne’s Echo Zoo Studios, a joy permeates each sonic corner of Holy Waters, the studio techniques more analogue and experimental than his previous work, but sounding fuller, richer, killing what ego was left in Puma Blue and paying their band-centric debts proudly. Inspired still by luminaries from Jeff Buckley to Björk, more important to Holy Waters was Portishead’s inexplicable marriage of a live band and production, and the improvisational work of Can and Hendrix. This is an album that can be devoured late at night with headphones as much as it can be blasted on the open road.
While Holy Waters might be his darkest work to date – even when compared to the moreish sadness flooding his breakthrough EPs Swum Baby (2017) and Blood Loss (2018) – it seems to find Puma Blue in a better place than ever. It’s as if death being the centrifuge to the album has made the beautiful moments that remain all the more beautiful; after all the sorrow and pain has passed, Holy Waters basks in them.
PRICE:
£19.99
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SLEEVE:
New
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New
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Last FM Information on Puma Blue
Please note the information is done on a artist keyword match and data is provided by LastFM.
Puma Blue is the alias of singer/songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Jacob Allen, based in London, UK, whose music has been described as 'voicemail-ballads'.
Producing the music himself in his bedroom, Jacob has been recognised for his dynamic, emotive voice, gritty lo-fi sound, particular visual aesthetic, as well as R&B, jazz and hip hop influences.
He first gained a following from his 2014 SoundCloud bedroom demo 'Only Trying 2 Tell U' and slowly cultivated a cult following from live shows around London & on the internet. His debut EP ‘Swum Baby’ was independently released in June 2017, followed by two stand-alone singles on the Blue Flowers label. His second EP ‘Blood Loss’ was released in November 2018, a more ambitious, circular body of work consisting of 8 tracks that blend into eachother.
Live he most often performs with his band, blending watery textures with soulful J Dilla influenced grooves and a vocal likened to Jeff Buckley and Chet Baker.
Originally growing from the south-east London music scene, Jacob has frequently collaborated with friends and peers, including Lucy Lu, Biig Piig & Lava La Rue and honed his sound between intimate live shows and late-night producing sessions at home.
He has cited D'Angelo, Radiohead & John Frusciante among his biggest influences.
Jacob also sometimes makes music under the monikers Ruby Bliels and Boss Nass, though there have been no official releases under these names as of yet… Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.