Croak Dream

the take

London-based Puma Blue takes a stab at trip-hop and downtempo with a bedroom pop sound. His voice reminds me of Joji, with more sultry lyricism and vocals over King Krule-inspired instrumentals (think “That Is My Life, That Is Yours”)—but comparing this to the genius of Archy Marshall is generous. I enjoyed listening to this and see it as good album to have in the background while doing some work or having friends over for dinner. The songs felt a little monotonous toward the end, and I wish Jacob Allen had experimented more with varying his voice and the music itself. “Hush” was the best song on the album and sounded the most thoughtful and coherent, so it was a bummer it came so late in the album and there weren’t more songs like it. Overall, I liked the album but it wasn’t as intriguing as I expected with the hype around its release.