“New Light Through Old Windows” / ‘I’m Acid Blue’ by Quinlan Porteous

I’m already familiar with this song, through a previous take by Quinlan. Where the former rendition made the song’s debt to the power of psychedelics as route to healing apparent, this alternative interpretation highlights the healing journey itself. The words are Billie Reid’s, and I suspect they were too raw about his depression for him to return to as a singer.

The difference this time round is new light through old windows, difficult times glimpsed from a better place, where the former delivered the initial overwhelm of that light crashing into a shuttered room. They’re complementary, yin and yang. We’re always looking forward and backward, living in their crosstown traffic, potential for utopia and oblivion arising from the interplay of a whole mix of inner and outer circumstances.

But hey, most days it’s not so dramatic – and even when it is, a reminder of other possibilities is welcome. Quinlan brings reflective lightness to the lyric that conveys his gratitude for being in a good place – today – as he sits with a coffee. An inspired musical setting frames his vocals perfectly. The balance of keys with acoustic and electric guitar, occasionally soaring into solo flourishes, is a delight. Together, that blend – along with wordless backing vocals – echoes the radio-friendly end of Pink Floyd, with a more contemporary production sound that’s particularly apparent in the percussion.

Skilful is a word that can sound prosaic, next to craftsmanlike in the lexicon of faint praise. Take a step back from both descriptions – mirroring the experience Quinlan is singing about – and you’ll begin to appreciate how skill and craft exist in the service of making the best possible choices for the music being created. What’s brought to the raw material – in this case a powerful and personal lyric with universal resonance even for those who haven’t struggled with depression in a clinical sense – is what can elevate it to its highest potential. That’s how this version of a song I already liked feels in its revelatory new incarnation.

Charlie Reynolds