New Music: Sargeant X Comrade – Old Familiar Feelin’

There’s a familiar and timeless quality to Old Familiar Feelin’ that will lead you to seek out more music from this Canadian outfit.

There are classic trip-hop beats for sure, and a feeling that the song is sampled from old 78s from the days of speakeasies and bootleg hooch, but it has a vividness and vivacity about it that hits you whiplash style.

Vocalist Yolanda Sargeant has real star presence, and a voice that sits nicely next to Billie Holiday and Erykah Badu. Is it trip-hop, neo-soul, or jazz, or as the band sometimes terms it, lo-fi soul?

It doesn’t matter, because regardless of whatever label you try to pin on Old Familiar Feelin’, it’ll slip loose and create its own sonic universe.

Asks Sargeant, “Have you ever invested so much energy into making something work, only to look back and see you’re exactly where you started?”

“Despite hoping for a different outcome, you’re left with the same sense of brokenness when things fall short. Yet, somehow, in that space, there’s a strange comfort—like the familiarity offers some kind of peace.”

Sargeant X Comrade have lined up a series of live dates in western Canada this month. Venue and ticket info can be found on Facebook and Instagram. Old Familiar Feelin’ is streaming on Bandcamp and Spotify.