Meet Sean Mac. Not your average 20 year-old Brit, but an ambitious young singer/songwriter who has already learnt much more of life than you’d expect. Twenty Light Years is his debut album. Sean: “For me, it sums everything up.” Sean was born in London, but spent most of his youth in Cork, Ireland. “I don’t remember having any other thoughts than doing music. It was always about music.” From a young age he was doing auditions, dealing with managers, writing songs and performing in small London music clubs, always supported by his ever-caring mum. Life wasn’t always easy. His dad suffered from a drugs and alcohol dependency, which took a toll on the whole family. Sean had to grow up quickly and – though it sounds like a terrible rock ‘n roll cliché – in Sean’s case music was truly a release for what he was going through. “Music was my way of dealing with problems. You learn from mistakes and overcome them. That is the inspiration you get from it. Seeing how my dad had taken the wrong path has only determined me to get mine how I want it!” Even at the age of 15, Sean was already part of a community of young, unsigned artists that organised small shows in central London. This scene helped him grow and Sean got to work with all kinds of producers and songwriters. Like most contemporary artists, Sean kept a MySpace page to share his music. This led him into the scope of an A&R manager at SONY. Two weeks later and he was signed. Sean: “When I got the email, I was like: ‘yeah, ok’ - not getting my hopes up. But this offer was refreshing, without bullshit. What I had always wanted spontaneously happened in a couple of weeks. It’s bizarre!” Sean’s debut album Twenty Light Years was recorded in Canada amongst the best of the best. He co-wrote his songs with people like Troy Verges, who has written hits for Backstreet Boys and Bon Jovi, The Swedish producers of Vacuum (a.o. Anastacia) and Michael Garvin from Nashville, responsible for songs by Jennifer Lopez, George Benson and Five. The album was produced by Tony Cornelissen (Di-rect, Cascada, Do) and Harry Hess and mixed by Tim Palmer (U2, Thin Lizzy, Ozzy Osborne) and Michael Brauer (Coldplay,James Morrison,Police, Anouk). With all this talent surrounding him, Sean managed to stay true to his own style and sound, resulting in a versatile album with pop/rock songs that all have special meaning to him. The Brit-pop/rock style blends very well with Sean’s soulful voice, making the album pure and straightforward. “Whether its rock, pop or soul; I just love to create music” The album introduces Sean to his new audience with a solid set of 12 songs, in a surprising blend of melancholy with a pure, positive vibe. It’s more than just poppy love songs, Sean’s here to tell us what the past few years have taught him. Because for Sean, the last twenty years did really feel like Twenty Light Years.
