First Listen: Ethan Bence – Desire

Often, out of struggle comes great art. For Pittsburgh-based hip-hop artist Ethan Bence, he had to begin to emerge from his struggle to create his art. “I’m not creative when I’m not happy,” he explains.

From an outsider’s perspective, Bence seemed to be living a great life. In addition to working on his music, he’d been attending Carnegie Mellon University, with a double major in Business and Statistics. Then came the fall of 2015, when his father became seriously ill, and Bence took a leave of absence to take care of him full-time.

“My dad was, and still is, going through some serious health issues,” Bence explains, “seeing some of the things he went through fundamentally changed me.”

This was the genesis of “Desire,” Bence’s first in a series of singles that will culminate in a short film. A deeply personal song produced by J-Louis, Myspace has the exclusive premiere, plus my Q&A with Bence about the single, and the project as a whole.

Check out the song, and interview, at Myspace.com.