“This Affliction” by Kate Vargas – A Song Review

     For us, reviewing “This Affliction” is like attempting to logically explain the basis for the selection of our favorite color. The attraction for the song was immediate, and it continues to grow in strength. But a rational, logically understandable explanation for the attraction is difficult, because it’s rooted in the emotional affect.

     The vocals are throwback. As in Melanie’s 1971 track “Brand New Key,” there is a child-like quality to the voice and an ease on the instrumental support. But unlike Melanie’s song about trying to capture the attention of a boy with her brand new rollerskates, the lyrics of Kate Vargas’ “This Affliction” have a sophistication. The lyrics are included in this post. Our favorite verse defines a hierarchy of likelihoods in how she stands for her beliefs:

Well, you gotta stand for something

I would die for my beliefs

I would shout 'em from the rooftops

I would take 'em to the streets

Or more likely I will sit at home and type them ‘til my fingers bleed

Or more likely I will kill for them and blame it on society

     “This Affliction” is a single from the upcoming album “For The Wolfish & Wandering.” The album is scheduled for release on July 27, 2018. According to her bio:

  A reformed wild child, in recent years Kate Vargas has traded the party for meditation, yoga, clean eating and a renewed focus on what she values most—her music. The New Mexico-raised, NYC-based artist is building ever more mindfully on her sound, and the music press is taking notice, Vargas receiving praise from a variety of respected outlets including Impose, The Boot and the Huffington Post, the latter assessing, “There is an unlimited amount of potential in this superstar on the rise.”

  Vargas has packed houses from Ireland’s Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival to The Troubadour in London, The Mansion on O Street in Washington D.C. to New York’s Bowery Electric. Her upcoming album, For The Wolfish & Wandering (out July 27), features her singular folk-style storytelling. The songs are grounded in a darkly melodic, reverb-washed sonic palette of dreampop, dusty folk and junkyard blues, all carried by Vargas’ rough-hewn vocals and guitar playing. In equal measure, she channels a surprising array of artists, from Tom Waits and 16 Horsepower to Lana Del Rey and K. Flay.

     “This Affliction” by Kate Vargas 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KateVargasMusic

Website: https://www.katevargas.com/

Lyrics “This Affliction” by Kate Vargas

Ah…

It’s a calculated crumble

May it rumble through the night

Mr. Mark-my-words ain’t crazy,

He just sworn he seen the light

And my insides are all ragged from the work that I been doing on myself

Oh my insides are all ragged, but they tell me that it’s good for my health

For my ah… affliction

Well, you gotta stand for something

I would die for my beliefs

I would shout 'em from the rooftops

I would take 'em to the streets

Or more likely I will sit at home and type them ‘til my fingers bleed

Or more likely I will kill for them and blame it on society

Blame it on this ah…

Call it what you wanna, just say it with conviction

Ah… this affliction

It’s a crooked combination

Of grandeur and grief

Pick apart my lonely heart

It’s morbid motif

But I look pretty from a distance and the rest is history

Won’t you paste my face under my name in Georgia and call it breaking?

Call it ah…

Call it what you wanna, just say it with conviction

Ah… this affliction

Ah…

Call it what you wanna, just say it with conviction

Ah… this affliction