“… a tale rich in folkloric imagery that reminds us that the prospect of love is both timeless and significant” / Silver Chains and Magic Eyes by Quinlan Porteous
There’s a thing with fairyland. About how you’re not quite sure you’re there until, sometimes, dark shadows make clear you’ve transgressed. And too it can be a place of wonder and beauty. All of which works really well if you’re singing about relationships, as Quinlan Porteous does in a tale rich in folkloric imagery that reminds us that the prospect of love is both timeless and significant.
Billie Reid’s words are always a sign you’re in for a well-crafted piece likely to have more going on under the hood than a first listen will reveal. But that initial reveal presents a carefully constructed folk-inflected ballad where a woman’s voice both echoes and toys with Quinlan’s vocal. Plucked acoustic guitar, engaging electronic rhythms, and sinewy bass are the framework on which a skilful production rests.
Quinlan’s voice holds an almost Tolkien-style narrative and the truth of the emotions it evokes. It takes a singer with conviction to deliver that blend when “dark shadows fall away, beneath the giant magic eye of day”. Sometimes big feelings and big ideas need big metaphors. “Baby I love you” is fine, but with centuries of songwriting tradition to draw on, reaching into that history and doing something new is a risk that’s worth exploring.
‘Silver Chains and Magic Eyes’ shows that the journey is worth taking. It’s a song we’ve all felt in different ways, expressed in a form to bring out the lovestruck villagers hidden beneath the guise of cynical city residents. The same current is there with cottage-core aesthetics and Netflix shows like ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’. Finding it in musical form isn’t a surprise. What’s pleasing is just how well it works. I want to hear more.
Charlie Reynolds