Engage prove two singles are better than one with their new releases Guitar Strings and Mirage — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Named for Star Trek character Jean-Luc Picard’s catch-phrase command, the New Brunswick / Ontario folk group truly live up to their handle with these two tracks. Each songs stands on its own fantastic merits — and when combined, they make for an enjoyable and alluring one-two punch.
Engage features singer, keyboardist and guitarist Carla Bonnell, singer-guitarist Rick Bartlett, drummer Greg Mansfield and, for these two songs, bassist Peter Sisk (who played with Bartlett in the ’80s in the Howard Brook Band). The band deliver two uniquely intriguing songs, each teeming with standout moments. Both cuts were created in far more peaceful circumstances than the 2023 album The Time Has Come, the Bronze winner of at the International Singer Songwriters Association Awards in Atlanta. “The first album was recorded in part during the 2022 hurricane,” they say. “This time, we have avoided driving into one to meet our deadline.”
Guitar Strings, written by Bonnell and produced by her and Bartlett, lends itself more to a lighter, breezier arrangement complementing her voice. Lyrically, the country-leaning gem addresses heartache and the need to strum your guitar sometimes and write a song about it. It’s a song Bonnell wrote in 2014, but it “was revisited and recorded in New Brunswick with a whole new feel, thanks to Rick’s guitar work on the lead.” The new rendition came after Bonnell asked friends and fans which earlier song they’d love to see revisited. “The biggest influence in putting this on the album was my mother, Bonnell says. “It’s her favourite of the songs I have written.” As for the inspiration, Bonnell adds it originated from “a situation where I thought someone had my back and they walked away from me.”
Mirage, composed, written and produced by Bartlett and Bonnell, is an earthy, rootsy nugget with the pair swapping verses for a sweet-sounding result. Chugging along with great guitar works in the bridge, Mirage is an endearing, earnest piece of work whose seed of inspiration came from a riff Barlett had in his head for some time. “One night, while we were hanging out, he mentioned again that he would like me to come up with the melody line and words,” Bonnell says. “I always had huge anxiety about cowriting, so I had put off previous requests. This night I just said, ‘Well heck, OK!’ I wrote the lyrics and the melody line in five or 10 minutes, and Mirage was born.” Using Bartlett’s guitar as a canvas, Bonnell was able to paint Mirage perfectly with her lyrics about finding “a sparkle of hope” in the “middle of darkness.” Stylistically, the single’s music conjures a mix of the Old West, with some Middle Eastern accents sprinkled in. “We both felt that we leveled up our skills in Mirage by combining our styles and the way we see our world,” Bonnell says.
Engage formed in New Brunswick and now includes new bass player Vernon Daigle. Bonnell, inducted in 2014 into the Minto Country Music Hall of Fame, has two solo albums to her credit, including 2014’s The Liberator. She has also worked with producer J.P. Cormier. For his part, Bartlett has played in many bands in his home town of Williamsburg and saw his 2015 album with Colton Craft entitled Brighter Days released under the production of Billy Sherwood of prog-rock legends Yes.
Watch the videos for Mirage and Guitar Strings above, hear more from Engage below, and make it so on their website and Facebook.
