Puma Blue – Croak Dream
Jacob Allen releases the title track from his upcoming Puma Blue album Croak Dream, out February 6 via Play It Again Sam. The song introduces the philosophical question at the album’s centre: if you knew how and when you were going to die, how would it change how you decided to live?
Allen explains that a croak dream is a prophetic dream where you see a vision of your death. Half the album’s songs explore how you might decide to live if you somehow knew your awaiting fate—being daring, romantic, saying what you really mean. The track itself works as an exorcism, unpacking a strange bond that’s haunted him for years through nightmares he can’t shake. Lines like “I was your brother / More than a friend / Gave you as much as I had to spend” move toward the repeated declaration: “This is the death of whatever it was / This is the death of your hold over us.” It’s laying a ghost to rest.
Allen sings over hypnotic, instrumentation with gestures toward trip-hop, dub, and the harder edges of electronic music. Recorded straight to tape at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios, the track was co-produced and mixed by Sam Petts-Davies (Thom Yorke, Warpaint), with longtime collaborator Harvey Grant contributing to the textural identity.
The video extends the track’s dream logic into a visual multiverse inspired by early PlayStation game design—angular surrealism resembling Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, and Tomb Raider. Created by Quill and run through VHS at the end to feel authentic to the late ’90s, it pays homage to Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Californication” video while carrying meaning for the band. Each member traverses their subconscious through surreal adventures. Allen calls it a way to honor these friends and the children they were back then.
Puma Blue will tour extensively in 2026 to support the album, starting February 12 in Houston.
Tracklist:
- Desire
- Mister Lost
- Hold You
- Croak Dream
- Heaven Above, Hell Below
- (Fool)
- Hush
- Jaded
- Silently
- Cocoons
- Yearn Again
Tour Dates:
North America
- February 12 – Houston, TX – Numbers
- February 13 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
- February 14 – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger
- February 16 – El Paso, TX – Lowbrow Palace
- February 17 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
- February 18 – San Diego, CA – Music Box
- February 20 – Los Angeles, CA – The Belasco
- February 21 – San Francisco, CA – August Hall
- February 23 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
- February 24 – Seattle, WA – Crocodile
- February 27 – St Paul, MN – Amsterdam
- February 28 – Chicago, IL – Outset
- March 3 – Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
- March 4 – Montreal, QC – Théâtre Fairmount
- March 6 – Somerville, MA – Crystal Ballroom
- March 7 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
- March 10 – Washington, DC – Black Cat
- March 11 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
- March 12 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade (Hell)
