Oregon musician Einstein has made a sad EP titled Doomed and featuring the sad lead single “Can’t Get Passed It.” In order to show listeners what he was like at his lowest—his first love leaving him because of his addictions—he wanted to show himself as he was when he wrote these songs. “I started with “Can’t Get Passed It” so my listeners would understand where I was at when I was at my lowest,” Einstein says, adding that other tracks are more uplifting. He mentions that “I Don’t Mind” is about “How you don’t always have to be stressed out. You can let those worries go. They don’t help you.”
“Can’t Get Passed It” is built on beats like slow guitar arpeggios. Einstein’s vocals are filtered to mimic the distortion of depression, heartbreak and substance abuse. His lyrics are still audible though, and there’s something refreshing about his candor during that awful time. “I’ve been a mess,” he sings. “I’m just a hopeless romantic,” he repeats, adding new importance on the word “hopeless.” “This song is about my first romance and losing the girl because I lost control of myself. I got over-medicated. My life was crashing. The girl that loved me wasn’t able to get past it. She left and I wasn’t able to get past the drugs,” Einstein says, able to see his experiences clearly. The young Oregonian has so much musical experience, it’s not surprising that he used music to process his grief. Einstein was raised in a musical family that would jam out on covers when they got together. Later, he wrote and played acoustic music, and he’s been rapping since 2010. According to Einstein, his acoustic works and “adds to the melodies in my music. I play guitar and I played drums for quite some time. I have that background in beats which is super important when you’re making an instrumental.” Einstein reflects on the song arc on Doomed. “It does get happier but then it gets sad again. The whole theme of it is feeling doomed because you’re going to go through the same recurring issues you have in your life, and hopefully you’re smarter every single time. The crash gets less hard,” he says, showing some hope after all.He also hopes Doomed will cross paths with those who are in similar situations. Einstein isn’t here to tell anybody to cheer up or get over it. He just wants to remind people that it’s okay to be sad. If you are, his music is here for you. As Einstein says, “If you’re sad and you want to put on sad music because you’re not ready to be happy, I want you to feel like you’re not alone. There’s a time for mourning.”
