Sean Cleland is an award-winning songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist based out of Honolulu, Hawai'i. He is a 3-time Na Hoku Hanohano (Hawaii's state-wide equivalent of the Grammy awarded by the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts) winner for 'Alternative Album of the Year' (2019, 2021, 2022). Described as an "innovative singer-songwriter and prolific performer who plays pop, rock, and soul" by The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, his music can in one moment be introspective and refined, and in the next, fiery and emotional. Blending together a hooky pop-songwriting aesthetic with the raw emotion of his electric guitar, Sean traverses and synthesizes the passion of rock and blues with the sultry sounds of r&b, jazz, and soul. Beyond his full band studio recordings, he performs as a one-man looping experience, layering all the elements of a song (drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals) in a single performance. He also performs with his full band.
Artists as diverse as John Mayer, Tom Misch, Gary Clark Jr., Ryan Adams, Hozier, and James Bay may come to mind when listening to Sean. Sean's guitar playing sits on top of his compositions as a dazzling electric blend of Mayer, Misch, Eric Krasno, and Mateus Asato.
Sean's latest album is the 2021 release, "Chroma" (vol. 2)". Everything from soul and funk inflected grooves, guitar heavy blues-rockers, and intimate acoustic numbers are represented on this record. The album won both the state-wide 2022 Na Hoku Hanohano Award for 'Alternative Album of the Year', as well as the 'General Engineering' award (produced by multiple Na Hoku Award-winning and Grammy-nominated producer Imua Garza). Alongside the album, Sean was also a finalist in the 'Male Vocalist of the Year' category in 2022.
His 2020 album, "Chroma (vol. 1)", won the state-wide 2021 Na Hoku Hanohano Award for 'Alternative Album of the Year'. The singles released along with this album have been featured on multiple blogs and Spotify playlists, and have received regular airplay on 90.1 FM KTUH college radio, appearing on their NACC charts for multiple weeks.
His 2018 album, “The Process Of”, won the state-wide 2019 Na Hoku Hanohano Award for 'Alternative Album of the Year'. He accompanied the album with two acclaimed music videos for the songs "Salary Man" and "Curl".
Sean's albums have been available in CD format in Target and other stores. He has also self-produced three albums, "Wanderlust", "Silence Speaks Louder", and "The Winter Room".
He is a relentless performer, and has played at the 2020 NAMM Show, opened for multiple international acts (Iron & Wine, Houndmouth, Henry Kapono), and performed at world-class venues like Blue Note Hawaii. Currently Sean performs live in two basic configurations: 1) a solo act featuring a completely live (zero pre-recorded material) looping performance of vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, and sampled drums, or 2) a full band format (trio, quartet, or quintet). He is available for event booking in any of these formats. He has 3-5 residencies every week at Honolulu hotels and venues with his solo act and performs over 200 times every year.
Sean currently works with Marmoset and Secret Road, and has had his original music licensed by CoStar Group (Homes.com). He also co-wrote the song “Lost Myself” with SYML, which was released on his celebrated 2023 album (which also featured artists including Guy Garvey, Lucius, Sara Watkins, and Charlotte Lawrence). The earlier version of the song was licensed to the NBC series "The Village" (episode #1006) and Freeform's series "Good Trouble" (episode #1013). He has also had the opportunity to write alongside Katie Herzig, Amy Stroup, Rob Kleiner, Butterfly Boucher, and Marlin Bonds. The song “Where Do We Go From Here?” was featured on The CW series "Kung Fu" (episode #213) and the Apple TV+ series "Life By Ella" (episode #110). Sean is a member of The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) and The Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts (HARA). He is also proud to be an Ethos Guitar FX (Custom Tones, LLC) artist, due to his longtime use of both the Ethos Overdrive and Ethos Clean II preamps.
Sean is also a long-time music instructor and has taught well over 100 private students across 18 years of instruction. He also prides himself on being the current private instructor of a few high-profile students here in his home of Honolulu.
Sean was born in Hawaii, raised in California, and began playing music at the age of 13. He also has a degree in philosophy and anthropology. After a life-changing trip across Europe and Africa he returned to the islands in 2009 and immediately felt a deep connection to his Hawaiian roots as he began to develop his music career in earnest. He is proud of his Hawaiian, Chinese, Scottish, Irish, and English heritage.
Sean currently lives in Honolulu with his wife Chelsea (the owner of the award-winning Rock Candy Hawaii, LLC) and their two cats, Toasty and Oslo. They are both avid travelers. Every part of his history informs his art today.