“We’re that band that did ‘Walk on the Ocean,’ ‘All I Want,’ ‘Something’s Always Wrong,’ and ‘Fall Down.’ The one with the weird name. We’re back from a long slumber, and look forward to saying hello some time. Keep in touch…”

And so goes the note posted on Tuesday by ’90 alt-rock faves Toad The Wet Sprocket, attached to the release of a new recording, “It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas.”

If you thought Toad had broken up a long time ago, you’re half-right. The quartet from Santa Barbara, California, did part ways in 1998, but in recent years has reunited for several summer mini-tours. Now Toad sounds committed to hitting the studio together too. As someone who can’t imagine his college years sans their 1991 album fear, and who grabbed the bands’ releases before and since that time, I’m all ears.

While we wait patiently for whatever’s next from Toad The Wet Sprocket, the guys have given us a wonderful little gift in time for the holidays. “It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas” marks the first new music from the band in over a decade, but was written by singer-songwriter Sam Phillips, another fave of mine from years past. She describes the song as an “ode to missing someone special during the holidays.” Hear here:

Hear Sam Phillips’ original version of “It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas,” taken from Cold Dark Night, a holiday EP available exclusively to subscribers of her Long Play series of digital releases.

Free download of Toad The Wet Sprocket – “It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas” via Bandcamp.

UPDATE 12/25: Download Sam Phillips’ original version of “It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas” via her website (Username: samlist / Password: idflc.)