Album Review: Mac Miller - Circles
Even without this LP being a posthumous release, it would still be a musical triumph. Originally envisioned by Miller as a companion album to 2018’s Swimming, producer and close friend Jon Brion arranges what remains of Mac’s unreleased material into 12 tracks that sound like how clouds would feel; cool and gentle. There are elements of Swimming’s experimental funk present, such as the lazy bass-line in Surf, but Circles raises the bar just slightly and drips with melancholy and freedom. Miller leans further into his raspy crooning on this album, an area of his artistry that he test drove on 2016’s The Divine Feminine, and that’s where he really shines. Back then, fans may not have been ready for his foray into singing, but the more it plays the more comfortable and relaxing it feels.
Standout tracks include Good News, Woods, and Blue World; the latter of which fuses his singing with his relaxed rapping style and an experimental backing track which shouldn’t work together but does. Woods plays as the soundtrack to a space exploration epic, and fan favourite Hand Me Downs has the only feature, with Melbourne artist Baro weaving in and out of harmonies with Mac as only seasoned musicians can. Good News plays with introspective thinking and gives fans a little bit of insight into just what Miller might have been going through leading up to his passing. The most upbeat of the set comes in the form of Complicated, which discusses his desire to be rid of distractions and sees him ready to embrace commitment.
The production carries through from Swimming but feels a little looser here, with Brion, who’s worked with artists like Kanye West and Janelle Monáe, doing his best to fulfil the sound of Circles as Miller intended. Perhaps the best lyric to come from the LP simmers in the middle of I Can See; “if life is but a dream then so are we”. It may not be an everyday listen, but this is the kind of album that can float over Sunday brunch on a warm summer breeze just as well as it can hum in the background of 2AM car conversations. Overall, this is a special collection of songs that longtime fans will cherish and new fans will remember as their introduction to the Mac Miller sound.
Reviewed by: Grayson Harris-Paul