I’m guessing you’ve already heard the hype behind this album. You’re excited that these Scottish rockers, from bands like Snow Patrol, Belle and Sebastian, Mogwai and Arab Strap, have come together to make an all-star record of epic proportions. Thankfully, Y’all Get Scared Now, Ya Hear! is neither a grandiose, star-studded wank session nor an amalgamation of all these bands’ styles. Instead, it is a surprisingly understated, cohesive and luxuriously sad album. I’d call the project a success just because every song sounds as if was done by the same band of musicians, despite the 15 rotating players who actually created them. If anything, it sounds like Snow Patrol, but with a different backing band.

This may be due to the fact that Gary Lightbody, the man behind Snow Patrol and mastermind of The Reindeer Section, has written must of the music and sings lead on all but two songs, while the "all stars" play minimal yet pleasing accompaniment. Lightbody also claims to have written all of the songs in one or two days, which in turn contributes to the album’s refreshing combination of simplicity and spontaneity -- and, of course, good songwriting.

The entire first half of the album is extremely mellow and beautiful. The opener, "Will You Please Be There For Me?", is a solo acoustic number with quiet washes of electronic noise swimming behind in the distance. Appropriately, Lightbody’s opening words are directed at a potential lover: "If I gave you my heart. Would you give yours to me? If I made a proper start, would you take me seriously?" The rest of the album continues to directly confront this "significant other", and the heartbreak/joy that accompanies desire. Mostly heartbreak, though. The next six songs continue the slow, morose pace, but it’s not a bad thing. "The Opening Taste" creatively incorporates a wall of backing vocals into its verses, and "If There Is I Still Haven’t Found It Yet" is a pretty duet ballad performed by Lightbody and Jenny Reeve, which drifts away with a violin solo.

The album takes a step up with "I’ve Never Understood", and sustains a more upbeat, but still passive, pace until the end. "Raindrop" offers some downright funky drumbeats carried by softy strummed guitars, distant keyboards and the melodic chanting of "Everything is all right. We don’t need to fake it." The only song on the album that comes anywhere near to "rocking" is "Tout le Monde", a Stone Roses trance-jam out.

The recognizable personnel are there, but that shouldn’t be the reason you buy this record. Come for the names, stay for the songs -- the simple, beautiful and sad songs.