Understandably, Mike Shinoda has had a difficult time dealing with the death of his former Linkin Park bandmate Chester Bennington: He tried hosting a live listening party for Linkin Park’s One More Light, but he had to cut it short because hearing his friend’s voice was still too much for him. Now, Shinoda has decided to honor Bennington with a new solo EP, released under his own name (not Fort Minor, his rapping pseudonym) and titled Post Traumatic.
The three-track release — which features shades of R&B, hip-hop, and Linkin Park’s rough-edged industrial sound — sees Shinoda very directly addressing Bennington’s passing. For example, on “Over Again,” he raps, “And every step I took I looked and wasn’t any closer / ‘Cause sometimes when you say goodbye, yeah, you say it / Over and over and over and over.” He also shared a statement about the release with Rolling Stone, saying that he used his own name on the RP because “grief is a person, intimate experience”:
“The past six months have been a rollercoaster. Amidst the chaos, I’ve started to feel an intense gratitude – for your tributes and messages of support, for the career you have allowed me to have, and for the simple opportunity to create. Today, I’m sharing three songs I wrote and produced, with visuals that I filmed, painted, and edited myself. At its core, grief is a personal, intimate experience. As such, this is not Linkin Park, nor is it Fort Minor – it’s just me. Art has always been the place I go when I need to sort through the complexity and confusion of the road ahead. I don’t know where this path goes, but I’m grateful I get to share it with you.”
Listen to “Place To Start,” “Over Again,” and “Watching As I Fall” above and below, or stream the EP here.
