Love is a fickle creature of many faces.

The joyful exuberance of first attraction, the hazy afterglow that settles into established bonds… Love can smile upon those who dare chance it.  But love can also be cruel and cold, its face one of stony resolve as it stands over the ashes of what was once a roaring hearth.  Endings and beginnings, cyclical as the seasons (and equally unpredictable).

On the eve of the one year anniversary of the release of their debut album Prose & Kahns (read our glowing review here), Toronto-based band Old English have released a video for their song “Pop Shop”.  A heartbreaking exploration of love’s risk and reward gamble, director Tommy Marshall has cleverly employed use of parallels to explore how relationships can be so full of promise and yet, ultimately betray that shared vision.  A stunning visual work where scenes form negative images of each other, it is at once buoyant and tragic.  The minutiae are magnified until they are all-encompassing, and I find myself agreeing with a Bush lyric from 20 years ago:  it truly is the little things that kill.

Watch Old English’s video for “Pop Shop” below and venture over to their official site if, for some reason, you have yet to possess Prose & Kahns — or rather, allow it to possess you.

Pop Shop from Old English on Vimeo.