Trevor Sensor

Starved Nights of Saturday Stars

BY Laura StanleyPublished Aug 5, 2016

7
Trevor Sensor doesn't water anything down; like the drinks that litter his songs, Sensor is always at full strength.
 
His latest release, Starved Nights of Saturday Stars, is only a three-song EP, but it's a solid sampling of Sensor's craft, particularly his vocal prowess. The power of his off-kilter and gravelly voice — quite similar to that of Kristian Matsson's (the Tallest Man On Earth) — is at first startling, but soon becomes completely enthralling and very intoxicating.
 
Sensor rips open his EP on beat one when he yells, "I get in trouble every time I go to the bar!" to begin the story of "When Tammy Spoke to Martha." As the standout track progresses, alongside some honky-tonk instrumentals, Sensor gets wilder, leaving the listener breathless and ready for a second round by song's end. Sensor has calmed down enough to sit at a piano for the title track, so even though the song feels oddly unfinished at under two minutes, it quiets things down just enough to make the closing track seem a little less out of place. To round off the liquor-fuelled EP, "Another Night at Lamppost Lounge" is a spoken-word track about drunken regrets. Backed by what sounds like a whirling slide projector and an array of skittering electronics, Sensor broods over a White Russian and mutters vignettes of the depressing nights at, and the characters in the Lamppost Lounge.
 
Despite its lyrical content, Starved Nights of Saturday Stars won't leave you hung over, and is further proof that Trevor Sensor is a unique young folk artist to watch out for.
(Jagjaguwar)

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