I’m sorry Internet haters. I think what Alec Duffy is doing with the Sufjan Stevens song he won exclusive rights to in a contest is pretty cool. I think people obsess way too much about the guy and his music, but Duffy seems like he genuinely enjoys having people come to his apartment and listen to the song on his computer.

I don’t really care if I ever get to hear “The Lonely Man of Winter” (dude has written plenty of songs and will write plenty more) but I think I would really enjoy the experience of going over to some random guy’s apartment in Brooklyn and talking music. If that makes me a douche, so be it.

It apparently only took about a week for Asthmatic Kitty to sell out of its in-house stock of the first printing of Welcome Wagon’s debut full-length “Welcome To The Welcome Wagon.” Something tells me the glowing reviews and suggestion by some that it is essentially the latest Sufjan Stevens record may have had something to do with it.

Having written glowing reviews myself – both about the two rare live performances several years apart that they gave after first appearing on an Asthmatic Kitty compilation way back in 2001 – I was anxious and fortunate enough to get ahold of a copy from the first pressing.

The album, which is really worth buying in non-digital form because of its clever Sunday School-kitsch-style packaging, shouldn’t really offer too many surprises for anyone fortunate to have caught them live. What is does offer – other than the obvious Sufjan stamp of approval – is an enjoyable collection of quirky covers and tender-hearted originals executed in that chaotically visionary way that has endeared so many to Sufjan’s style in recent years.

Whether it’s the soulful choir of voices backing “Deep Were His Wounds, and Red” and “Jesus,” the retro showtune-esque renditions of The Smiths ‘”Half A Person” and Danielson’s “Sold! To The Rich Man” or the sparse banjo-led hymn sing of “He Never Said A Mumblin’ Word,” the record offers a puzzling blend of gospel-fused Americana, perky Jesus Movement nostalgia and freak folk experimentation.

Explicitly Christian in approach and content – Sufjan’s fans might recognize the name of the husband of the married couple duo, Presbyterian minister Vito Auito, from “Vito’s Ordination Song” – The Welcome Wagon remind me of the soul-lifting quality and sincerity of the old-fashioned hymn sings of my youth (with the addition of several instruments, of course). Listening to their sing-along version of Lenny Smith’s “But For You Who Fear My Name” it’s hard to not grate on my wife’s nerves by clapping and whistling along.

Given the hype surrounding The Welcome Wagon’s introduction to a much wider audience, there are bound to be plenty of detractors who won’t appreciate the explicitly church-y quality of it or find the quality of the instrumentation and vocal stylings up to snuff. But for those of us already sold on this not-so-little-anymore band, no amount of fanboy hype, however annoying it can be at times, could spoil what has been a long seven-year wait time coming.

I’ve seen Welcome Wagon play exactly two times and own only one of their recordings on an old compilation, but I consider myself a big fan because I’m pretty sure I’ve been exposed to a large percentage of the material the Reverend Thomas Vito Aiuto and his wife Monique have ever played live or recorded.

That’s about to change.

Asthmatic Kitty, the label that released the aforementioned old compilation, is releasing a collection of 12 Welcome Wagon recordings titled Welcome To The Welcome Wagon on Dec. 9. That Sufjan Stevens’ name is attached to the project as producer should bring the project some much deserved attention.

Two years ago after seeing Welcome Wagon perform a holiday show at Princeton Seminary I wrote in a review that I hoped it wouldn’t be long before I was “welcomed into the fold of The Welcome Wagon again.” I’m glad that wait will be over in December.

-Matt Ralph