Back in December, Bodega Dog introduced the project with “Faces“, a debut that pointed toward something worth keeping an eye on.
“Had Enough” makes that case again, even if it arrives in a smaller, rougher form. At under two minutes, the new standalone single moves on a slow, following pulse that keeps building just enough to hold you there, and then cuts out before it feels finished.
That sense of incompletion works for the song, even if it also leaves a bit of frustration behind. You want more from it. The production could hit harder, and the whole thing could stand to open up further, but the core is there. Somewhere between indie rock, slow-burning alt songwriting and a faint post-rock pull, Nico Caro is still sketching out a lane that could turn into something properly distinct.
Caro, who handles Bodega Dog alone out of Hudson Valley, New York, wrote “Had Enough” around stress and the negative thoughts that come with it. “The ‘bug’ and ‘buzzing’ is referring to anxiety and an overall feeling of burnout,” he says. “Everything is getting harder to handle over time. It’s like an emotional hangover sort of speak. You wake up feeling so disoriented, head feels off, and everything takes more energy and effort than normal.”
That mood is built into the structure. The song opens in what feels, for a second, like a false calm, then gives way almost immediately. As Caro puts it, “‘I feel the faintest hum, buzzing through my skull’ is a main part of the track.” The anxiety here is not some sudden rupture. It sits low and constant, more like a background malfunction than a blowup. “It’s explaining kinda how the anxiety isn’t like a BOOM, it’s a low lingering constant. Internal buzzing that doesn’t resolve. Like your mind didn’t fully reset overnight and you wake with an emotional hangover sort of.”
The ending leans into that stuck feeling. “The last 4 ending lines just repeat, which makes it feel stuck and I wanted the song to end rather fast so it has this longing to it,” he says. “These feelings don’t have a full arc or end, they show up at random moments in my life and it helps to write and get it out of my head.”
There’s also a small but noticeable shift from “Faces“. That first single centered on being left behind, on watching life move while you stay fixed in place. “Had Enough” is less about time and more about accumulation, about stress settling in and refusing to budge. It is also more piano-driven, with more of a lo-fi feel. Caro says he “originally wrote it as just a piano song, but then I added more and more until it felt right.”
That standalone approach is shaping the project for now. Caro plans to release more singles throughout the year, not tied to a larger release yet. “Just single one off songs for now until I get more traction and have enough to create a full EP or even a record,” he explains. “I have a lot of ideas but I want to release singles first and get my thoughts out there and my name out there.”
He sees that format as the best fit for where Bodega Dog is at. “Releasing these songs as standalone tracks fits better because I can write them and get it out just based on the headspace they come from at the time. Each song feels like a call to a specific state of mind.” There is still a larger goal in view, though not yet fixed into shape. “It’s not really part of a larger project at the moment, though I do hope to have something like that done by the next coming winter. For the next few months though I will just be releasing standalone singles and having them exist in their own space.”
Everything on “Had Enough” was done by Caro himself: instruments, recording, mixing, mastering, and artwork. The single is set for release on March 28 on all platforms.
🔔 IDIOTEQ is ad-free, independent, and runs on one person’s time. If you want it to stay that way: DONATE via PayPal 𝗈𝗋 SUPPORT via Patreon.
Stay connected via Newsletter · Instagram · Facebook · X (Twitter) · Threads · Bluesky · Messenger · WhatsApp.
