New music video from Sgt. Splendor

Sgt. Splendor brings together songwriter Kate Vargas and guitar virtuoso Eric McFadden, two artists with distinctly different musical identities who discovered an unexpected common ground through a shared Southwestern upbringing and a mutual appetite for exploration. Before Sgt. Splendor, both had already established themselves in their own right; Kate earned a reputation around vivid imagery and unconventional Americana, attracting attention from NPR, Vice and Rolling Stone, while Eric developed a career spanning solo projects and collaborations with artists including George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Angelo Moore, Anders Osborne and Jackson Browne.

Although they’d moved within the same musical circles for years, the pair didn’t properly meet until performing at the same songwriting festival in 2018. An immediate creative spark led to writing together soon afterwards, beginning a partnership that would develop through shared tours, weekly livestream performances during lockdown and an expanding catalogue of collaborative material. The resulting Sgt. Splendor feels like the collision of two complete creative identities, producing something stranger and more expansive in the process.

Their music can be playful, theatrical and surreal, but within the eccentricity is a genuine interest in human connection, community and the forces influencing the world around them. That context became particularly pronounced during lockdown, with the duo’s debut record, Occasions for Self-Congratulations, arriving from that strange period. Followed up with albums two and three, Sgt. Splendor have continued to build momentum while winning over listeners all over the world.

Now, their ability to find humour and joy within darker material continues with “Brave, Rough, and Ready to Go,” a track that turns questions of courage, responsibility and collective action into a darkly cinematic adventure. Swaggering, gritty and groove-driven, the song draws on the theatrical energy of classic rock while creating a world that feels part myth, part mordant comedy and entirely its own. Within its larger-than-life imagery sits a more serious question about what bravery actually means when everyone is watching.

The song considers the spectators who demand displays of courage while suggesting that real power can emerge when people step away from the sidelines and commit themselves to something greater. Building from intricate plucks of clean guitar and taps of cymbal, Kat’e expressive vocals enter above the patter of percussion before a surge of rock energy swells around her voice. Brimming with dramatic vocal performance, bluesy vibes, musicianship flair and grooving arrangement, it’s an epic showcase of Sgt. Splendor’s fiercely original musical offering.

The music video for “Brave, Rough, and Ready to Go” transports the song to San Francisco’s historic Barbary Coast red-light district, transforming its themes into an old-time brothel saloon extravaganza populated by fire-wielding and gun-slinging characters. It’s a stellar visual experience that brings the music alive on screen in an engrossing cinematic fashion. With their highly anticipated fourth studio album, Electric Idol, set to drop on the 16th of October, the duo continue an adventurous creative run that’s seen them develop and expand their sound while retaining the spirit that first brought them together.

Watch the music video for Brave, Rough, and Ready to Go below

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