Puma Blue is the alias of South Londoner Jacob Allen, who has been delicately honing his purposefully paradoxical sound, blending downtown jazz sax lines with J Dilla grooves and a heart-wrenching vocal akin to Jeff Buckley, Chet Baker and Billie Holliday. This blend is completed by Allen’s punk-inspired grit and the ferocity of his live performances, backed by a four-piece band, spewing out tortured love songs and sensual rhythms topped by his haunting falsetto vocals. Yet as complex as this mix may sound, it feels as if it just spilled from his mouth one afternoon, sounding simultaneously like the soundtrack to a black&white b-movie or skyscraper sunsets and yet freshly un-earthed, contemporary yet classic. Currently working on his debut EP, Puma Blue is the dark, funk-punk-soul-jazz poet we’ve been waiting for. 

London