Posthumous albums are usually cash-in souvenirs, but Mac Miller’s could be a rarity: a classic

The family of Mac Miller, seen here performing in 2016, has announced the release of a posthumous album, “Circles,” due out on Jan. 17. Mac Miller’s new album, “Circles” — due out Jan. 17 — will likely be a different sort of posthumous record. Jon Brion, an L.A. composer who’s helped shape albums and soundtracks from artists as diverse as Kanye West, Fiona Apple and director Paul Thomas Anderson, had started to work with Miller on “Swimming,” which unbeknown to most fans, was intended as the first half of a double album rooted in contrasting aesthetics. A fixture in L.A. pop and the avant-garde since his beloved roundtable jams at Largo in the early 2000s, he’s enjoyed a long career of bringing intricate, cinematic textures to artists like West and his outsider pop sensibilities to films like “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Lady Bird.” “Swimming,” though lush and handsomely performed, was still grounded in Miller’s hip-hop roots. So if “Circles” indeed draws more heavily from Brion’s talents, it will be a fascinating companion piece in Miller’s catalog, and maybe one that puts his live musicianship and arranging skills front and center.