There’s something ‘bygone era’ about Toronto-based Original Pairs’ new single “Concord Avenue” – not just in its yearning for a better recent past, but in its sound. The song combines a ’50s Elvis croon with a mid-’60s rose-sunglasses filter to create a haunting and infectious power-pop ode to an apartment surrounded by intrigue. Check it out on YouTube here:

 Wandering the city at night, the narrator of “Concord Avenue” is plagued by the ghosts of a past romance. He recalls the warm, inviting beacon of a kitchen light, the ex-boyfriend who took his place, and the drunken writer who witnessed it all from the neighboring porch.

When you hear a band has penned a concept album about the natural flow of a grand love affair, your instinctive reaction might be “Aww, how sweet.” Now meet Original Pairs. The Toronto rock-revival outfit have chosen to herald the arrival of their new collection, Long Play (OPLP), by releasing “Not Grow Old,” a relationship inventory with a—shall we say—quirkier bent. Check it out on YouTube here:

Lyrically, the song finds a smitten narrator rattling off a series of things his woman could do that he promises wouldn’t scuttle their union—from staying out all night to putting him on hold to talking with her mouth full. But the loping, dark-rockabilly menace of the music hints that there’s going to be a crucial exception:

Don’t say you ain’t been told
You better not grow old
You better not grow old