Toiling Days Are Over by Lazy Giants

The Toiling Midgets have turned into - what else? - Lazy Giants. The original name, intended without malice or prejudice, hailed from a reality TV show circa 1979, in which an interviewer asked a pair of little-person tycoons about the secret to their success. But times and contexts are different now. So along with issuing an apology for any inadvertent offenses or misunderstandings, the group has officially rechristened itself the Lazy Giants. In certain respects, the new LP, Toiling Days Are Over, enriches a decades-old tradition. Gray fashions meaty but moody riffs from art-punk, glam, and heavy-rock materia prima. Up in the stratosphere, fellow veteran Paul Hood concocts spacey abstractions. Initially recommended by Strokes producer and Hood associate Gordon Raphael, masterful drummer (and noted solo act) Daniel Benyamin applies just enough heat and fastidiousness to the lumbering beats and loose rhythms. A second younger addition, Benyamin's friend Daniel Cerny, weaves in stealthy filaments of synth and clarinet. Toiling Days Are Over is the band's first full-length since the '90s to feature prominent vocals. The music exudes remarkable oomph and consistency despite it's construction at six studios in a quartet of countries.