To working musicians, Malcolm Todd’s quick ascent from barely learning an instrument to TikTok notoriety and the billion-streamers club must be infuriating. To the larger Tokverse of influencers, he’s proof that the algorithm can elevate any level of talent to the new celebrity class: money for nothin’ and the chicks for free. Influencers constantly hustle to keep their numbers alive because scores have seen one video go viral yet their followers remain in the low four digits. The title Do That Again seems to point to the challenge of maintaining momentum in this environment; whether it’s up to the challenge is the big question.
The only way to consider Do That Again a critical success is to imagine it as a form of ‘here’s a bunch of statements about me – only one of them is true’. Todd meanders through characters or extrapolations of briefly-held thoughts/feelings and precious few are worth rooting for. He permeates a listlessness and boredom that results in lowbrow humour like fantasising about the hot bisexual woman who’s into guys this week. One track he’ll vibe to his buddy Omar Apollo’s lost-boy vulnerability and then next it’s the toxic situationshipism of R&B singer Brent Faiyaz.
At the center sits the standout “I Saw Your Face”, a track so strong that it almost justifies cobbling an album around it. Amid the album’s hotel-sex fantasies and laborious, Steve Lacy-inspired strumming, Todd’s insecurity and directness about his situation is breathtaking: “Life’s not a movie / I’m not a movie star”. A mix of Love’s “Always See Your Face” and Airborne Toxic Event’s “Sometime Around Midnight”, it also reverently mimics the tone of early Sebadoh classics like “Soul And Fire” or “Two Years, Two Days”. It is the sound of finding one’s sound.
Its dozen companions are superfluous. “I Saw Your Face” needed to be released and the others are, at best, a spiritual repeat of 2025’s self-titled outing and its 2024 predecessor, Sweet Boy. There’s just enough here to merit a quick glance when the next album arrives presumably in another 12 months’ time. Let’s see if he can do it differently.
