Review: Sega Bodega in Portland
Salvador Navarrette, known as Sega Bodega, is known for pushing boundaries in his music crafted through acoustic sounds over extensive electronic cuts. Often a collection of deep techno roots intersecting with calm, soothing vocals. His latest record, Dennis, is a further extension of what we’ve known and previously heard but most recently Navarette has honed these sounds in a new live experience.
On the third night of the new tour, Sega Bodega stopped by a quintessential Portland electronic club, Holocene, to find a sold out crowd, both with new fans and ones from his last stop in town. On stage, Navarrette presents himself in a similar style to the promo material of late and previous works, wearing a tattered jumper and baggy pants, and gliding across stage in harmony with his vocals and pausing before each chord change or transition. Early into the set, the opener, Cecile Believe,joined Sega Bodega on stage, reminding everyone of Navarrette’s collaborative spirit.
Visually, the tour stage lighting takes up much of the floor space, especially on the smaller stage with Sega Bodega nestled in between all the lights, coiled cables, pedals, and just a laptop driving much of the backing tracks for the artist. With every kick drum emitting an intense burst of light, Navarrette’s silhouette is seen from just about every angle in the club. During even more intense moments, we see a heavy strobe effect welcoming the crowd even further to join in on the dancing.
In the end, the setlist was a brief collection of songs from Dennis (2024) and Romeo (2021). While at the heart of nearly every song is a deconstructed club track. Maybe, none more so than the final song of the setlist. A fan favorite single that was released following Romeo, “Kepko” serves as a dark and moody club track, with haunting vocals driving the faceted emotions of longing that Sega Bodega consistently delivers. At the end of the show, Sega Bodega came back on stage to apologize. He had no more songs prepared, but thanked the crowd one final time and took a selfie with everyone as a memento for the evening.
