The Boathouse Find Sincerity Beneath the Swagger on ’80s-Inspired Rock Single “Like a Lover”
Toronto yacht-rock influenced quartet The Boathouse share “Like a Lover,” a bombastic new single that pairs the larger-than-life sound of ‘80s AOR and synth-rock with an unexpectedly sincere declaration of romantic commitment. Built around towering guitars, gleaming synthesizers, huge drums and a detour into Prince-inspired funk, the track emerged from a period of housing uncertainty that put a relationship under pressure and ultimately reinforced the feeling that some challenges are easier to face when someone has your back.
The song was written soon after bassist and vocalist Tristan Armstrong and his partner moved into an apartment in Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood. After navigating the city’s fiercely competitive rental market, they had finally found a place they were excited to call home. Just months later, however, their landlord informed them that the property needed to be sold following poor business decisions, abruptly throwing their future into uncertainty.
“This thrust us into a period of disappointment, uncertainty and anxiety,” Tristan explains. “These times can greatly test a relationship, and have a tendency to either strengthen or splinter.”
Rather than allowing that anxiety to make its way into the song as cynicism, “Like a Lover” goes emphatically in the opposite direction. Inspired in part by listening to The Darkness and Chromeo, Tristan became interested in writing something so unabashedly sincere that its romanticism might almost be mistaken for a joke. Beneath the outsized performances and playful posturing of both influences, he heard a genuine sweetness that gave him permission to embrace the same idea without reservation.
The song sets an anthemic ‘80s rock foundation against a funky, Prince-esque bridge and ending section, creating a shift the band describes as simultaneously “jarring and delightful.” Rather than smoothing out those contrasts, The Boathouse uses them to showcase the individual personalities within the quartet, with featured moments and solo sections allowing each musician space to step forward.
While some ideas can spend months or years waiting to become fully formed tracks, Tristan wrote the verses and chorus of “Like a Lover” in a flash before sending the demo to guitarist Ryan Farley. Ryan responded with the muscular bridge riff that gives the song what the band affectionately describes as an “LA slickness,” while Josh Trager’s commanding drum parts and Vincent Spilchuk’s keyboards pushed the arrangement further toward the virtuosity and sheen of classic session-player rock.
That aesthetic was amplified in the mix by Devon Lougheed, who gave “Like a Lover” the deep, bombastic character of an era when high-gain guitars and cutting-edge synthesizers could occupy equal space on rock radio. The enormous drum sound completes the picture, giving the track enough muscle to match its gleaming surfaces and unabashed romanticism.
“Like a Lover” will also appear on The Boathouse’s forthcoming debut full-length album, due later this year. Across the project, the quartet filters the smooth sounds of ‘70s and ‘80s rock through a more contemporary lyrical lens, returning repeatedly to what they describe as three enduring subjects: “Love, loneliness, dystopian futures. We feel these are the core themes of our time, and the times that preceded.”