Sargeant X Comrade Use Power as a Portal

Through grief, groove, and lo-fi soul, the Calgary duo deliver the first of a two-part muse on self-actualization.

By Liam Dawe

Photo by Comrade

Published on July 11, 2025

It’s fitting that the release party for Power, Vol. 1, the latest from Calgary soul duo Sargeant X Comrade, felt more like a family reunion than a formal album launch. On a mild Thursday evening in early June at Calgary’s Sweet Loretta, the pair filled the room with warmth, energy, and the kind of unspoken connection that only exists between artists and their home city.

Calgarians turned up in numbers to take in the celebratory night, experiencing a bill that also included beloved local husband-wife act Ginger Beef and kung fu-funk outfit Ninja Star. The crowd—eclectic and engaged—pushed in close to the jam-packed stage as Yolanda Sargeant, Jay “Comrade” Bykovets, and their five-piece backing band guided them through the newly-released material.

“People from all different stages of my life came through,” said Sargeant. “People who empowered me, people who just watched it all happen. It wasn’t just about us—it was about Calgary. About Alberta. About music.”

The show capped a string of Western Canadian tour dates and marked the official launch of Power, Vol. 1—a cathartic and sonically textured release that forms the first half of a conceptual dyad. Across ten tracks, the duo hyperfixate on power in its various iterations: personal, ancestral, musical, and metaphysical. The result is a meditation on grief, healing, and self-realization, delivered through the group’s signature blend of lo-fi soul, funk, jazz, and vintage R&B.

“At the core, it’s really about the power of self,” notes Comrade. “That’s where it starts, and then it branches into everything else.”

Whether you’re a longtime fan or a first time listener, Power, Vol. 1 truly delivers up and down the tracklist. From the hypnotic title track to the gospel-tinged “River,” featuring Calgary Poet Laureate-Emeritus Wakefield Brewster, the album walks a deliberate line between vulnerability and mysticism. It’s not a record that hands you answers—it wants you to look inward for them.

“We don’t really like telling people what our music is about,” Sargeant explains. “Even as artists, sometimes you write something and only later realize what it means. That’s the beauty of it.”

Much of Power, Vol. 1 also carries the unmistakable presence—and absence—of the late Marvin “The Fly” Kee, a beloved multi-instrumentalist, producer, and longtime collaborator. Kee passed away in early 2023, but his fingerprints remain throughout the album in both sound and spirit. His work on the bass guitar underpins multiple tracks, and his energy evidently ripples through the emotional arcs of both this project and its upcoming sequel.

These posthumous collaborations—rich with love, weight, and musical history—infuse the group with a timeless quality. Even when it’s light, it never feels trifling. When it’s dense, it never sinks.

“It’s also about realizing that while life is heavy, you don’t always have to carry the weight alone.” Sargeant adds. “That’s part of the message too.”

As the dust still settles on Vol. 1, the duo have already shifted the focus onto putting finishing touches on Power, Vol. 2, which has already been recorded, and promises more levity than its predecessor.

“The second one’s going to be a lot more fun,” Comrade shared. “It’s got disco-funk vibes. More dancing, more light.”

Originally envisioned as a yin-yang pairing, the two installations of Power substantiate a duality between the power in struggle and the power in agency. Masters of suggestion, the sequel will carry forward Sargeant X Comrade’s layered production style, embedding multiple meanings into both lyrics and arrangement.

“We try to make music that reveals more the longer you sit with it,” said Comrade. “We want people to find new things on the tenth listen that they didn’t catch the first time.”

In the midst of this two-volume cycle, Sargeant X Comrade are also preparing to unveil an entirely different kind of project—a full-length reggae collaboration with St. Lucian-born, New York-based artist Taj Weekes. The project was born from an impromptu jam at the Calgary Folk Fest and quickly burgeoned into something more intentional.

“We kept in touch, built a friendship,” states Sargeant. “We brought him out to Calgary to record, and then we finished the record in New York.”

The unnamed project was engineer-aided by one of the members of UK roots-reggae legends Steel Pulse, and even holds a feature from Bad Brains’ own H.R. — a collaboration that was secured by the late Marvin Kee. Whether it arrives on their own label, Mo Gravy Records, or through a larger imprint is still being finalized, but the music is ready. As always, timing is intuitive.

“We go with the flow,” Sargeant laughed. “Like the river.”