Sean Cleland Music

HISTORY

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.  Sean 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 also featured on 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).  He currently works with Marmoset Music Licensing and Secret Road Music Licensing, and is a member of The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) and The Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts (HARA).  Sean 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.

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, which means he performs over 200 times every year.

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, but was raised in California.  He is Hawaiian, Chinese, Scottish, Irish, and English.  Sean 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 heritage as he began to develop his music career in earnest.

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.