Think: “ I don’t have a name, I don’t have a name, no / Who am I to blame, who am I to blame?” and “ I just end up right at the start of the line, drawing circles” off “Circles.” Or “ Some people say they want to live forever / That’s way too long, I’ll just get through today” off “Complicated.” Then there’s “ All I ever needed was somebody with some reason, who could keep me sane / Ever since I can remember, I’ve been keeping it together, but I’m feeling strange” on “Hand Me Downs” and “ They love to see me lonely / Hate to see me happy” off “Hands.” Lyrically, Mac spends much of this album wrestling with the futility of life, as he does on Faces. How he tries anyway fans love him for that. Then, we end on “Once A Day”: “ Once a day, I try, but I can’t find a single word.” Look at how Malcolm wrestles with the futility of language to reveal the depths of his mind. Both lines amplify Mac’s desperation and pursuit of life. Its waltzing instrumentation underscores how Malcolm was glaring at himself in the mirror: “ That’s on me, that’s on me, I know / That’s on me, that’s on me, it’s all my fault.” Or his achy voice on “Surf,” singing: “ Where are you going? / Can I come, too?” before slipping into a ballad born of the days of The Divine Feminine. Take all of “That’s On Me,” the early standout from Circles. If he stripped himself bare on Swimming, then, on Circles, Mac drills into his bone marrow and digs out every last bit of himself, serving it up to us on a circular platter. Every bar is a personal quotable, a lyric to keep pressed to the chest for a rainy or sunny day. What I am going to tell you is that Circles features his most matured and wizened writing. He wrestled with mortality for his entire discography. On “Everybody,” Mac reminds us how he spoke so thoughtfully through the piano, and its unveiling of a chorus and strutting melody is nothing short of captivating.Īnd the writing, my goodness, the writing! Take this early line off “Woods”: “ Things like this ain’t built to last / I might just fade like those before me.” I’m not going to preach to you about Malcolm’s cognizance of his finality. The way “Complicated” twists and evolves sounds as if it’s going through a wormhole of emotion and synths, and melts right into the sample and stutter of “Blue World,” is just one of many moments where the songs on Circles take on their own isolated and stunning life. ![]() Within songs, he wows us with musical reveals and impressive turns. Mac’s versatility in the incubator that is Circles is admirable. The song reminds us of GO:OD AM, of simpler times, and how much we love Mac’s spitting. Finally, “Hands” features some nice spoken word, treading the same surface of swagger and signature slurring. And just like that, we’re back to a quietly breathless verse. It’s exorcising all darkness out of our collective chests. The dreamy hook feels like a salve on our hearts. Mac replicates this swagger on “I Can See,” between moments saying, “ I need somebody to save me,” and slipping into a syrupy singing section. It also works to remind us Circles is home to a new Malcolm, one who is forward-thinking and focused on singing and songwriting his way through his pain. In the context of the album, “Good News” slides right in to give us a breather from the synth-heavy moments preceding it. We realize single “ Good News” is not the outlier, but the rule for Circles. Lines about whiskey and wine, delivered with an unprecedented tenderness and body, leave “Circles” as the first of many impressively startling moments on Circles. There’s nothing but beauty dripping from Malcolm’s every word on this album opener. “That level of aspiration and seeing him put his talents to use in a new way… You can feel that he was working toward what would have been the opus.”-Nick Dierl Listening to “Circles,” we realize Nick was spot on. In 2019, his publicist and dear friend, Nick Dierl, told me Malcolm’s opus was forthcoming. ![]() Immediately, we realize Circles is Mac as we’ve never heard him. The softness of it, the whispering nature of it, makes Swimming feel like a bombastic rap album. “ Well, this is what it look like / Right before you fall,” Mac greets us. As the static of Swimming’s closer “So It Goes” fades, Circles opens with “Circles,” with Malcolm’s gentle voice warbling over twinkling instrumentation.
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