If you’ve never heard him, or even heard of him before, then take this reviewer’s word for it. There are few forces in all of existence like that known as Todd Kolod. The things he’s able to do, and accomplish, as the front man for the Daddy-Doo Band, simply bewilder the imagination, to say nothing of the ear drums, on the band’s anthology, Daddy-Done: 2003-2009.

Kolod’s got this striking penchant for coming in right and only getting better at whatever he’s doing–playing the guitar, singing, cranking out lyrics, and especially transitioning between different parts of a tune–which is simply singular. Just when you think to yourself, ‘that’s it, this song can’t get any better’, it does, as Kolod finds new realms and ways to simply take you there.

Check “Daddy-Doo-A-Rama” for hardcore proof of this facet of the album. Kolod’s graceful tenor finds delicious melodies on the verses, then even better ones, somehow, on the hook. And were that not enough, he then goes into a bridge that’s even more transporting, elevating you well beyond the clouds, the horizon, and almost anything else associated with this planet.

The critical factor may be that Kolod engenders these accomplishments with, at times, a paucity of lyrics that spotlights how well he, and it sounds like a female background vocalist, can sing. Some of the best parts on this album are when they harmonize, or Kolod goes it solo, on some “dah dah dahs”, “aahs”, and other sounds of sheer delight.

Daddy, in all of its connotations, is assuredly the motif that this project is focused on, and not just because it’s an anothology of the band’s incarnation from 2003 to 2009. In addition to the aforementioned song, there’s also cuts like “Daddy-Doo”, “What Would Daddy Do”, “Proud Big Man”, and more.

However, the genius of this effort is in the chord progressions and leaps between passages in the songs that take the listener well beyond where they were previously, seemingly bereft of effort on behalf of Kolod and the rest of the band. “Daddy Doo” , the leadoff tune, exemplifies this characteristic and rides the rhtyhm of a piano and guitar exchanging slang with one another for the whole song.

You just might come out of listening to these same 19 songs doing the same thing with any variety of ways to say, think of, and appreciate the term Daddy–which is another testament to what Kolod has been able to do on this release.