Puma Blue returns with new single ‘Hounds’.
The songwriter’s loose-limbed, jazz-leaning take on soul leaves plenty of space for expression, with his twinkling, twilight charms seeming to point to late night introspection.
‘Hounds’ is another deft about-turn from the artist, with Puma Blue recording the song in one take. There’s a real elasticity to the performance, while addition production comes from Andrew Sarlo (Bon Iver, Big Thief) and Sam Petts-Davies (Warpaint, Thom Yorke).
Moving beyond his lo-fi roots, there’s a more in-depth aspect to ‘Hounds’, giving Puma Blue a broader palette to work from. He comments: “In the past I’ve strived to make this intimate sound on my laptop and then translate it differently for the live setting. But after the detachment of the last couple of years, it became apparent to me that the thing I love most about this project was playing it live with my closest friends.”
“So I took them this demo I’d written around a bass-line, a Bristol-sound inspired song about running from depression and the inevitability of loneliness, and after jamming through it a couple of times we recorded it live together in a studio on the English coast. The irony is not lost on me given this is a song about loneliness, that it was a really poignant time of togetherness and I think you can hear it in the playing.”
A full black and white video for the song is online now, and it perfectly reflects Puma Blue’s stark but evocative songwriting. Directed by filmmaker Jak Payne, it dips into a hidden world formed by unusual symbols. Puma Blue adds…
“Jak and I were inspired by Jean Cocteau’s ‘Testament Of Orpheus’ and Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’, and so we set the video inside a kind of barren dream world. There’s hidden meaning and symbols which are both personal to me and up for the individual’s interpretation as I traverse the landscape of my own subconscious”.
Tune in now.
Photo Credit: Orien Cleis
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