Tuesday October 16, 2001

y'all get scared now, ya hear!

(Pias America)

Grade:

C

You'd think that with an album called y'all get scared now, ya hear and a cover featuring angry-looking cartoon reindeer, The Reindeer Section would be more ridiculous. They're actually kind of nice, lacking even the slightest hint of a jocular tone. There is a weird little story in the inlay, though. It's about measuring love and sex in the hall closet. The high point reads: "He took a piss in the sink and brushed his hair into a doo-wop flick."

Y'all get scared now has 14 quiet "please love me" songs for people who like soothing vocals and ambient guitars and don't want music to play a pivotal role in the foreground of their lives.

There's a boy voice and a girl voice on the album, and they both sound like genuinely nice people, if a little bored and maudlin. All in all, the whole thing is pretty lacking in the old ring-a-ding-dong - it's all sleepy lullabies that come and go without much notice. The songs don't ever take off, and the nice-people vocals don't ever soar, or break, or catch or do much to make you notice them at all. If you need some extra musical wall paper, or something nice to drift asleep to, or if you're making a mix tape for someone you feel sort of lukewarm about, you should buy this album.

Y'all get scared now is chock-full of cameos from people in bands like Belle and Sebastian and Arab Strap, and while The Reindeer Section remains in the same vein, they lack the novelty. So if you like Belle and Sebastian, but think they're too interesting, you'll love The Reindeer Section.