Mac Miller has a new album coming out a little over a year after his death from an overdose, and his family says a well-known producer was a key figure in bringing it to fruition.

A message with the news was posted to Mac's official Instagram account Wednesday, announcing a posthumous record was set to be released on Jan. 17 -- two days before what would've been his 28th birthday -- and the project is called "Circles."

His fam says it's meant to be a complimentary piece to his last album, "Swimming," with the idea being ... Swimming in Circles. They also say record producer and composer Jon Brion was a major contributor in completing it.

They'd worked together, and Jon sat with Mac and heard early versions of some of the songs. Based on their convos ... Jon finished the project with what he believes was MM's vision for the music.

The family goes on to say while it's a complicated process of releasing something on behalf of Mac, they think it's what he would've wanted ... because they know he wanted the world to hear this.