Since their founding in 1999, Japanese art punk band TsuShiMaMiRe has been all over the Earth. From Asia and Europe to North and South America, the band has spread their heavy kawaii sound as far as a melody can travel. So consider their opinion a trustworthy one when they aim to showcase all of the emotions this planet makes a person feel on their 15th full-length studio album, The Greatest World.

Their first album to feature new drummer Asami, TsuShiMaMiRe start things off with a bang via “Oversized American Dreams”. What sounds like a lament for having too much overseas ambition is instead a humorous gripe about buying way too many souvenirs while traveling abroad. The heavy luggage, attempting to fit too much into one suitcase, and the price one has to pay when their baggage is over the weight limit is captured with a beautifully first-world problem attitude.

“Ice Cream Punk” is a delightful love song, with vocalist/guitarist Mari declaring that she has the power to melt hearts. The catch: the hearts have to be soft-serve levels of cold, as icy ones are a bit of a challenge for her. Keeping on with the subject of hearts, “Doji Step” takes a lover’s mistake and transforms it into an apologetic dance. It covers the many ways one’s words are the opposite of what they mean, be it in either the good or bad ways.

Not one to be chained to the mundane, “Complex Compressor” is a bitter-yet-genuine look at how one can’t stick to a routine all of the time. “Repeating the same old thing is boring,” sings Mari, before being crushed by the dullness that a humdrum life can offer. Hence why “Unagi Boogie”, the album’s bounciest song, tells its listeners to eat some eel for good luck before embarking on a big change in life. (It also makes for a tasty snack for adults, albeit an expensive one!)

“Watashi Kangae” whisks its listeners away to a place where people can share their dreams and transcend time and space. It’s a song with a flower power flare that’s filled with hope, even amongst a setting that has been wrought with chaos. The final original track on the record, “GIRAGIRA HIKARU”, bids adieu to a stubborn mindset and embraces trying something new. Even if it causes one to lose sense of things, the song reminds its listeners to push forward until one’s heart shines brightly.

Before TsuShiMaMiRe hits the studio, the trio likes to try out their new songs on the road. The final tracks on The Greatest World capture the reaction to two of the new songs — “Ice Cream Punk” and “Unagi Boogie” — in front of an audience at London, Ontario’s Palasad Socialbowl. Considering the positive feedback they received, alongside the response to older tracks “NO PUNK” and “YORI MODO SHICHUU”, it appears that even after 27 years together, Mari, Yayoi, and Asami are still traversing on the right path.