The Sheyana Band – All The Best
There’s something about Tasmanian blues that doesn’t quite fit the mould. Perhaps it’s the island isolation, or perhaps it’s the Celtic threads running through the music, but The Sheyana Band have carved out their own corner of the Australian blues scene, one that feels both familiar and distinctly their own. “All The Best” gathers fourteen tracks spanning their career, mixing highlights from previous releases “Big Love” and the “Ricochet” EP, with three freshly recorded songs that show a band still pushing forward.
London-born, Tasmania-based Sheyana Wijesingha leads the charge, her Celtic and Sri Lankan heritage informing a vocal approach that moves effortlessly between soul-drenched storytelling and rock power. She’s backed by Northwest Coast veterans who know their way around a groove: guitarist Wayne Rand, bassist Dan Jeffrey, and drummer Leigh Hill, all contributing vocals that flesh out the band’s sound. When you’ve shared stages with Neil Finn, Joe Camilleri, Ian Moss, and legends like Renee Geyer and The Angels, you learn a thing or two about presence. Their resume reads like a who’s who of Australian rock and blues, from Mark Seymour to Gang of Youths, and that experience shows in how confidently they navigate different styles.
The album opens with “Forth Valley Blues”, a tribute to the now-defunct Tasmanian festival where the band cut their teeth. It’s a song that understands what regional music scenes mean to the musicians who come up through them, delivered with the kind of boogie-rock swagger that likely went down well at those outdoor gatherings. The track captures something essential about community and celebration, themes that run throughout the album. “Wasted” and “Big Love” follow, showcasing the band’s ability to shift between gritty blues and more polished roots-pop without losing their edge.
What becomes clear across these fourteen tracks is the band’s impressive range. “Borderline” and “Honesty” lean into southern rock territory, guitars pushed forward in the mix with that classic dual-guitar interplay, while “Soul Sister” dials back for something more introspective. “Wet” injects funk into the proceedings, a reminder that this isn’t a band content to stick to twelve-bar formulas. The six-and-a-half-minute “Ricochet” gives them room to stretch out, building from a slow burn into something more urgent, showcasing the band’s ability to hold a listener’s attention when they take their time.
The newer material, recorded with longtime producer Russell Pilling, sits comfortably alongside older tracks without jarring transitions. There’s a confidence here that comes from years of live performance and festival slots, the kind of band tightness you can’t fake in the studio. “Mr Jackson” and “My Darlin'” show a band that’s grown into their sound without losing the raw energy that likely earned them the 2018 Chris Wilson Award for Emerging Act of the Year from the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society. That recognition from one of Australia’s most respected blues organisations wasn’t accidental.
Sheyana’s songwriting draws from personal experience and observation, grounding the music in something tangible. These aren’t blues exercises or generic relationship songs, but stories with specific weight behind them. “Remarkable Man” and “Big Hearts” balance intimacy with universal themes, while “On My Mind” and “Back In Time” close things out with a reflective quality that gives the album a proper arc rather than just functioning as a random collection.
The production keeps things organic throughout, favouring live energy over studio perfection, which serves the material well. You can hear the room, the interplay between musicians, the small moments that make a band feel like an actual unit rather than a collection of session players.
For a compilation, “All The Best” works surprisingly well as a cohesive listen. The sequencing avoids the usual greatest hits trap of feeling disjointed, instead building a case for The Sheyana Band as a unit with a clear identity. Their Tasmanian roots run deep through the music, not in any obvious regional signifiers, but in the particular alchemy they’ve achieved bringing together blues, roots, rock, soul, and funk into something recognizably their own.
After an extensive Sri Lanka tour in late 2024 and with festival dates already locked in through 2026, the band clearly has momentum. “All The Best” captures where they’ve been while suggesting there’s plenty more to come from this hard-working outfit. (7/10) (Foghorn Records)
