Mac Miller - Balloonerism - import 2 LP set

Balloonerism is a project by Mac Miller that was purportedly asked to be released in case of his passing. The project was made sometime between 2013 and 2014 before the release of Faces. "Its really hard to understate just how many albums that would have been absolute highlights in an artists discography have been more or less immediately shelved. Back in late 2013, early 2014 Mac Miller was working on what should have originally been the sequel to Watching Movies, a little project called Balloonerism. This album was shelved by Rostrum Records, most likely because it was "too out there" or some non-reason, and so only bits and pieces of it survived, most notably Colors and Shapes, Uber and Smile, which appeared reworked on Faces and the second Run-On Sentences. There was always some kind of rumor going around that Mac had one "lost" album, but then, in early 2020, it somehow got leaked onto the internet. So, with the lost album found, what is Balloonerism?

The saddest album that Mac would have ever put out, point blank. Balloonerism basically takes all of the more experimental production choices from his 2013 projects and cranks it up a bit more, adding more psychedelic elements to it and putting a much bigger focus on the more downtrodden elements of Macs addiction. Songs like The Song That Changed Everything, the original version of Colors and Shapes, He Finally Sleeps and Tomorrow Will Never Know all have some of his most delirious production yet, weaving in gorgeous melodies with weird, hollow elements that play off each other in fascinating ways. It's simultaneously serene, yet melancholy and alienated, very much in tune with the main topics that ended up coloring the tracks in.

Balloonerism is more or less a collection of Mac at his absolute lowest, floating through life with little feeling of control, doing way too many drugs and asking himself a lot of really uncomfortable questions. This was recorded at what was seemingly one of his lowest point, even though I find it tactless to speculate about something like that. The fact of the matter is, Mac isn't feeling good at all on this project, constantly wondering why he is going on, where he is going, trying to find just some semblance of relaxation, getting more and more worried about the future until it all comes crashing down on him on the last three tracks. The run from Smile to Bob's Dementia is some of his most heartwrenchingly sad material, and I would honestly rather implore you to listen to them then read these words on the screen.

In a just world, Balloonerism would have been released when it was made, and you can tell that some of these tracks haven't been mastered completely. However, the material on here is some of the most heartbreakingly touching and emotionally open that Mac had ever been in his career. If you can stomach that, then this is a must-listen for you. Maybe it's experiencing the album after everything went down, maybe it's just really that good, but the fact that we almost never got to hear this record is a shame. Amazing work through and through." -- Hurricanslash