Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda Honors Chester Bennington With 'Post Traumatic' EP

Six months after the death of Chester Bennington, Mike Shinoda is using music to heal. The Linkin Park bandmate released three new songs Thursday in remembrance of his friend, who committed suicide back in July. The three tracks, "Place To Start," "Over Again," and "Watching As I Fall" are packaged in the Post Traumatic EP, Shinoda's first new body of music since Bennington's suicide in July 2017.

Each of the three tracks chronicle Shinoda's past few months of emotional — and oftentimes disembodied — grief over losing Bennington.

"It was a month since he passed, maybe less / And no one knew what to do, we were such a mess/ We were texting, we were calling, we were checking in / We said we ought to play a show in honor of our friend," he sings on "Over Again."

Along with the music, Shinoda shared hazy, self-shot videos for each track on his YouTube.

"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," Shinoda posted on Instagram. "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."

Bennington, 41, had suffered with depression throughout his musical career and hanged himself in a rented Los Angeles home on July 20, the birthday of Soundgarden frontman and close friend Chris Cornell, who had committed suicide in May. Linkin Park organized a tribute concert for Bennington in October, which included performances from Blink-182 and Alanis Morissette.

Shinoda's Post Traumatic EP is available on the artist's official website and all streaming platforms.

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