We have an impressive video premiere from dark-folk artist, Kate Vargas, for her single, “Call Back the Dogs.” Talented animator Emily Hubley (Hedwig & the Angry Inch) and her son Max Rosenthal designed the stylized video short to create a visual representation of Vargas’ unique sound. Vargas certainly lives up to the standards of two of her personal influences – Nina Simone and Tom Waits. She sounds incredible!
Kate shared the following about the song:
“Call Back The Dogs” is an exploration of the mind and where it goes when given the opportunity to wander.
I was at a Zen monastery in the Catskills one weekend and a monk was sharing his concept of meditation. He described our thoughts as dogs and sitting to meditate as letting the dogs off the leash. “The dogs will wander,” he said, “Every now and then, they will go really far. Just call them back.” I wrote down the words “call back the dogs” in my notebook and it stayed there for a couple years. I didn’t know exactly where it would go but knew it had to be the button of a song. In the meantime, I gathered all these thoughts, watched them like I was doing a science experiment, without judgment, and wrote them down. That’s what I used as the fuel for the song. It sort of walks the line of reality and the places our minds take us.
Vargas is an Albuquerque, New Mexico native who moved to New York in 2010 to kick off her solo music career. Since then, the singer-songwriter has been playing shows nationally and internationally, packing the house with fans of her dark-folk, a combination of acoustic guitar and throaty vocals.
Find out more here: www.kate-vargas.com