Circles and The Art of Slowing Down

Posthumous albums are often celebrations of an artist’s work. Something such as Pac’s Life from 2006 featured some of the most popular rappers at the time as well as west coast natives commemorating 2Pac’s life. Every once and a while though, a posthumous album marks a continuation of that artist’s vision. A piece they left behind when they left the world. For Mac Miller’s Circles, it was just that.

Mac Miller intended Circles to be a companion piece to his previous album Swimming, from 2018 (which I also happened to love and even wrote about in my 2018 Rap Up). Circles moves in a similar space to that record. Throughout his entire career, Mac has worked from a largely introspective place, from Making Movies with the Sound Off to Faces to Swimming to now Circles.

On Swimming, collaboration was commonplace from featured rappers to a bevy of producers. However, one of the most prominent collaborations on that record remains the most important on Circles: Jon Brion. Brion is the musician behind the film score from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind among many others. He collaborated with Mac Miller on nearly half of the tracks from Swimming and started work on Circles shortly thereafter. After Mac’s death, Brion worked on Circles till it was completed.

It would also a fool’s errand to try and pin this album to single genre – just like Mac himself. One of his greatest talents throughout his musical career was his ability to consistently push himself to new heights with a refusal to imagine there was something he couldn’t do. (The man made a jazz album under the moniker Larry Fisherman that was intriguing musical detour.) He was in constant pursuit of finding his voice and in the most heartbreaking context imaginable, Circles is a realization of that pursuit.

Much of the songwriting on Circles comes largely from Mac himself (another indication that he had found that voice), except for his cover of Love’s “Everybody’s Gotta Live,” titled “Everybody” on Circles. Not only is the track a wonderful rendition of the song, but Mac’s songwriting all over the album mirrors the strengths of Love’s frontman, Arthur Lee. It is a strength Mac honed his entire career: the ability to write an incredibly cathartic, personal song in a way that touches the listener making it feel it was written just for them.

Circles ends with the track “Once A Day.” In that song, Mac sings “Everybody keeps rushing/why aren’t we taking our time?” That sentiment not only feels relevant for life itself, but the process of listening to this album. Mac continuously and deliberately slows down the pace himself. But it is a record that gets better the longer you sit with it. The subtle – and not so subtle – inflections in his voice, the way the guitar morphs across tracks, and the sample flips all drive the feelings of peace, wonderment, and heartache home. Circles was never meant to be a parting gift. You cannot say goodbye to someone you did not know was leaving, but this isn’t an album that even concerns itself with saying goodbye. No, it will stay with you. So that when you’re lost and cannot find your way back, you are reminded that you are not alone. Sometimes all you need to do is take your time.