Pittsburgh-based hip-hop artist pours his heart out on first of a series of singles.
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.
Wanting to know more about “Desire,” and the story behind the entire project, we sat down with Bence to ask him a few questions about both.
“Desire” is the first in a series of singles that will culminate in a short film. What can you tell us about the musical journey you’re going to take us on with this project?
The project is going to touch on a broad range of issues, both personal and social. That’s part of the reason why I’m releasing it as a series of singles. While there will be a cohesiveness to it, I want each song to be its own entity.
As far as sounds, it’s very diverse. There are dark, moody portions, and heavy funk-inspired bits, too.
Why did you decide to split “Desire” into two distinct parts?
Most of us have different parts of ourselves that we let out at certain times in certain situations. In a lot of cases, one part might be completely dissonant with another, but they both still exist in the same whole.
For me, personally, two of those opposing forces are desiring material things, but then snapping out of it, and knowing it won’t make me happy. That’s one of the general themes of the song.
Why is “Desire” the first song in the progression? Is the entire project done as a timeline, or is “Desire” first in order to set us up for the future songs?
“Desire” is the first song because it is so personal to me. I felt like it needed to be the first song. It just felt right.
The project isn’t in a chronological timeline, but there is definitely progression toward something larger for sure.
Listen to more exclusive tunes by visiting our Premiere page.
