For their follow-up to their 2001 debut, Y"All Get Scared Now, the original cast of 15--including Arab Strap"s Aidan Moffat and members of Astrid, Belle and Sebastian, Mogwai, and Mull Historical Society--have been joined by a deluge of new recruits headed by Idlewild"s Roddy Woomble and Teenage Fanclub"s Norman Blake, swelling their number to a staggering 27. It seems every Glaswegian with a guitar has signed up to join honorary Scot and Snow Patrol singer Gary Lightbody"s lo-fi folk answer to the Traveling Wilburys. The fact that Son of Evil Reindeer is infinitely more coherent and intimate than its predecessor is astounding, and Lightbody himself deserves most of the credit. Aside from Moffat"s brilliantly woozy "Whodunit?" the tender words and music are all Lightbody"s, and it"s the Snow Patrol singer"s quietly aching voice that adds melancholy to acoustic ambles "Budapest" and "Your Sweet Voice," and feeling to the country-rock grind of "You Are My Joy." With the co-op"s more avant-garde noise factors reined in, the other 26 contributors are seemingly confined to minor cameos, but when the results are as touching as this, it hardly seems to matter. --Dan Gennoe