Shining a Light on Exceptional Christian Music

Welcome, The Welcome Wagon! You were just a tad late, though!  Life would have been smoother for Christian boys and girls if artists like you and Sufjan were around ten years ago, when, in our parents’ eyes, listening to “secular” music was like shooting up, and Weezer was the neighborhood drug dealer.

The Welcome Wagon is here like a breath of fresh air and that means good news for us: Christian music is getting so much better.  And if someone tells us that Christian music is unoriginal, well, just slap this record on the table and say, “Not ALL Christian music!”

The Reverend Thomas Vito Aiuto and his wife Monique have been slowly building this album with Sufjan (jealous) since 2001 when they contributed a track for an Asthmatic Kitty demo disc.  Sufjan plays several instruments and sings backup for Welcome To The Welcome Wagon, adding a subdued version of the orchestral and choir elements that were dominant in Illinoise as well. The Reverend wrote all the music except for two quality covers: ‘Half A Person’ (The Smiths), and ‘Jesus’ (The Velvet Underground).  His poetic experience shows through in his lyrics, which resemble Seven Swans to some degree, but is drenched with colorful imagery highlighting the grace of Christ.

The Welcome Wagon figured out how to blend faith with delicately arranged music and tear-jerking poetry.  The result is a delightful folk album with an Asthmatic finish.  I always dreamed of singing songs like these in church.  This faith/music combo was never done well by cliché-filled “Contemporary” Christian bands (Plus-One, Carman…T-bone was rapping about cutting off the heads of demons…) that reigned over the last two decades.

The first track, ‘Up On A Mountain‘, one of their catchiest, includes some of the most touching lyrics of the album: “Up on a mountain our Lord is alone,” Monique sings with a voice that is so darn cute, “without a family, friends or a home.  He cries ooh, ooh, ooh, will you stay with me?”  These are the kind of lyrics that make me want to know the God that they are singing about.  He is inviting us to be with him.   The technical conservative type might have a problem with this style of being creative with Biblical imagery, but it means so much more this way: “Do you know?  It’s a long way down…He came all the way down, so it’s true that you’re not alone.”  Page France does the same thing on “Hello, Dear Wind”: “Jesus will come through the ground so dirty, with worms in his hair and a hand so sturdy, to call us his magic we call him worthy.” I’m a sucker for silly imagery like this illustrating spiritual truths.

‘Hail To The Lord’s Anointed’ is another gem, theologically sound and emotionally moving: “He comes to break oppression, to set the captive free, to take away transgression, and rule in equity.”  I’m just going to give the award to this next line for being so true: “To help the poor and needy, and bid the weak be strong; whose souls, condemned and dying, were precious in His sight.”  That is just plain uplifting.  Thank you, Reverend, for writing this.

While the most precious songs on the album are the quiet, folk numbers sung by Monique, the songs with a beat and louder instrumentation, rich with texture, showcase the Reverend’s voice, which is identical to Sufjan’s.  One of the catchiest Reverend songs is the trumpet-driven two-minute track, ‘Unless the Lord the House Shall Build’.  The piano arrangement is so Illinoise, which is great.

In ‘I Am A Stranger’, The Reverend confesses doubt in his faith and the choir “ahhs” enhances the feeling of insecurity: “I am a stranger, here below and what I am, is hard to know my heart is cold and dark within I fear that I’m not born again.” Despite his doubts, the Reverend shrugs it all off in a sing along at the end.  I sing too…but thinking more about the state of underground Christian music: “Everything’s alright, Yes!”

Written by: Davy Long