The Welcome Wagon are Brooklyn indie folk duo Vito Aiuto and Monique Aiuto, who are set to release their fourth album ‘Esther’ on November 4th via Asthmatic Kitty Records. It see’s The Welcome Wagon return to their original label, a homecoming which is reflected in the themes of the album. As Vito Aiuto explains “It became apparent to us that so many of these songs were about coming home, or leaving home, or reckoning with the homes we grew up in. Plus we wrote them in our home.” Monique added that “Making a home in this world is one of the hardest and most beautiful things any of us ever do. Our music helps us to do that – to make a home, together with our family and friends – and we hope that somehow our songs might help others to make a home wherever they are, too.”
First single from the album ‘Isaiah, California‘ is a hypnotic meditation on love, and family and homecomings – and an acceptance of things as they are. And if it has hints of a modern hymn or religious reflection about it then that’s no coincidence – that’s the Reverend Vito Aiuto, after all. And earlier albums from the duo feature re-tuned hymns, as well as some original, liturgical and gospel songs. ‘Isiaih, California‘ fits into a strain of their music which, while not explicitly religious, has a reflective spiritual feel.
