Even though Mac Miller has been gone for almost six years, we’re still getting new music from the inventive Pittsburgh rapper. The newest song to hit the DSPs is “The Quest,” a previously unreleased song that first became available last year for fans who bought the 10th-anniversary vinyl of Miller’s 2013 album Watching Movies With The Sound Off. Produced by Mac (under his Larry Fisherman alias), the track interpolates Jon Brion’s Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind score — specifically, the song “Phone Call.”
While it’s unclear exactly when it was recorded, its presence on the Watching Movies reissue suggests a timeline that would make it one of Mac’s first unofficial collaborations with Brion. They later worked together extensively on Mac’s final projects Swimming and Circles. The former was the last Mac Miller album released during his lifetime, while the latter was completed by Jon Brion after Miller’s death in 2018. Together, they form a diptych sometimes collectively recognized as Swimming In Circles — although Brion said a third album was also planned, making the collection a trilogy.
Meanwhile, there’s still at least one Mac Miller album that fans still stand a good chance of hearing. Last year, Madlib confirmed that his and Mac’s collaborative project is being finished with the blessing of Mac’s mom, who runs the estate. While there’s still no timeline on a release just yet, it certainly gives us all something more to look forward to. Listen to “The Quest” below.