While their name might suggest that The Pairs are made up of a couple of couples, the group is actually a trio. More accurately, a trio made up of a pair of twins and a pair of friendships. If that math doesn’t add up, all audiences need to know is that when these three voices join together, they sound like a single, perfectly attuned entity. The Pairs are Renee and Noelle Frances Coughlin and their lifelong friend Hillary Watson, whom the twins grew up treating like a sister thanks to their respective parents’ close friendship. The bond between the three singers is uncanny: while each is a classically trained vocalist, the tightness of their three-part harmonies is something that only comes with an innate trust of each other. There’s a gentleness to The Pairs’ tender folk songs, buoyed by the collective power of their voices. The harmonies on The Pairs’ fourth album, last year’s Together on a Rock, are like liquid honey, smooth and rich without even the hint of a bitter note. Their voices are so compelling and buttery it’s difficult to hear anything else, though at least one of them is typically playing acoustic guitar, strummed softly to keep those mellifluous voices at centre stage. - Elizabeth Chorney-Booth