October 12, 2022, Brooklyn indie folk duo (Vito Aiuto and Monique Aiuto) The Welcome Wagon are thrilled to release their new single “Matthew 7:7” – out now. “Matthew 7:7” is the second single released off the band’s new album Esther set to release November 4th via Asthmatic Kitty Records.
The Welcome Wagon have also released a corresponding music video to the song, directed by Alex and Aaron Craig and filmed in Brooklyn, featuring the duo and friends in a church setting.
Esther is the fourth full-length album from the Welcome Wagon as they return to Asthmatic Kitty Records, the label on which they began their musical journey. Fittingly, it is a record that explores the idea of home in all its beauty and complexity. It is as much about homecoming as it is about making peace with—and a home in—uncertainty. The project had its beginnings in the summer of 2017, when the family took a two-month sabbatical to California. Shortly after returning to Brooklyn, Vito found himself holding his guitar and allowing his fingers to play a few notes that just felt…right. Then the pandemic hit, and Vito’s strumming, lyrics, and thoughts became the soundtrack of the family’s lockdown lives.
Though Monique had given up painting a decade prior, she felt an urge to go home as well, to reconnect not just with an artistic identity but with her midwestern family. She began to paint after a decade away from the easel while locked down with Vito and their son Isaiah in their Brooklyn home. In isolation, she realized she’d neglected the very thing that connects her to herself, to God, and those around her, her gift, her purpose, art. To return to her creative practice, Monique recalled the sun drenched studios of The Cooper Union, where she attended from 1992 – 1996. Paintbrush in hand, she would listen to the muffled crackle of Psalms on tape cassettes home-recorded by her grandmother Esther. The recordings were empowering and comforting.
Esther is The Welcome Wagon’s fourth album and is part of an ongoing audiovisual collaboration between Monique and Vito. Monique has made a painting to correspond to each of Vito’s songs on the album, three of which are featured in the album’s artwork, with a limited edition print of the piece “Isaiah, California” available as part of a special LP bundle.
Esther was born out of this wellspring of creativity and homecoming, exploring the profound knowing and equally profound mystery in both family and faith. In Esther, the questioning is the destination, and it is one where peace can be found and home—and art—can be made. There’s a salve there. There is music. There are moments of grace, large and small. Welcome.
“Matthew 7:7” is available at: https://asthmatickitty.lnk.to/matthew77
LINKS:
Pre-Order Esther: https://lnk.to/WWPreSave
http://www.welcometothewelcomewagon.com/
https://www.instagram.com/the_welcomewagon
https://www.facebook.com/WelcomeWagonMusic
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