“We Are Pedestrians” opens The Liquor Witch with Sean Madigan Hoen singing, “No more bad news, I will not subscribe.” This line sets the overriding tone that follows through the next eleven tracks, but some of his other metaphors are more oblique. “We are pedestrians, this we try to have, with our books and our guns and the science of our tongues, transitory, all of us…”
After spending the past two decades fronting the bands Leaving Rouge, The Holy Fire and Thoughts Of Ionesco, Hoen is still playing with a core group of people who are a major force in shaping the tone and color of his music. On this, his solo debut, the band does a commendable job of emphasizing the emotions he seems to be chasing.
And when working in the singer-songwriter construct, Hoen often layers his lyrics with opaque metaphors while showing little concern for pursuing narrative ease. It's a word game for Hoen, with decorative adjectives and textual painting.
