After the misstep that was the Animalhouse, former Ride star Mark Gardener finally gets back on track for the first time since 1994's Carnival of Light. Blink and you miss a decade! Falling Out Into the Night finally follows up Carnival as if the debacle of the Andy Bell-dominated Tarantula (Ride's last LP) never happened. With a pseudo-reggae bass groove leading the way over a stutter snare beat and some twangy lead guitar, Snow in Mexico throbs along and gradually grows into one of those Carnival-like cool choruses complete with a strong harmony to make you sing. Fellow Oxford denizens Goldrush seem the perfect backing band, able to muster Ride's dynamic base without Xeroxing them. (Track two here, Out of Reach is apparently just Goldrush, a slowcore, acoustic-strummed light ballad that's actually pretty tugging.) Finally, the collaboration concludes with a total rethink of early Ride's tantalizing slow-burn epic Dreams Burn Down. Goldrush substitute just a light, ticklish lead guitar and acoustics for the original's pulverizing twin-electric reverberating hypnosis, bringing the heavy melody more to the front. Together, they remind that the best shoegazers had the killer tunes behind the maelstrom of swirling sound. ~ Jack Rabid, Rovi