Girl Scout, Brink

Swedish band Girl Scout first turned heads with their debut 2023 EP, the soft indie-popish Real Life Human Garbage, following it up just a few months later with Granny Music. In that short time, you could already hear them beginning to dip their toes into heavier sounds. Their newly released debut record, Brink, lets itself wander further into the murk, though the band retains a distinct ability to explore its human sensitivities, even when it’s happening underneath a noisy patina. 

Girl Scout (Photo by: Jakob Ekvall)

The record is a little bit of a lot of things. It bounces around from indie-pop to pop-punk to rock, riding the sails of Emma Jansson’s perfectly calibrated vocals to maintain a sense of cohesion. Bands like Alvvays, Ratboys, and Grandaddy (the first of whom Girl Scout actually joined for a European tour in 2024) are often called to mind as you listen through. Like these acts, Girl Scout shares a similar propensity for balancing the gossamer with the abrasive. 

“Song 1” is a masterclass in this. Jansson describes how when several songs on the record were originally written, they felt a little left-field in one way or another, coming off too folky at times, too theatrical at others. However, when it came to actually getting them into the box with her bandmates–drummer Per Lindberg and bassist Kevin Hamring–they seemed to fall right into place. Listening to this track, you can totally imagine Jansson’s uber-gentle vocals plucked out and set to a spare acoustic track. Instead, Girl Scout adds an unrelenting drumbeat and synth riff, expanding the atmosphere of the song by miles.

It’s not just the instrumentals bending around Jansson’s vocals, though. On “Keeper,” for example, she sports a bold vulnerability in her vocal style that is really reminiscent of Annabelle Dinda. A synth twinkles hauntingly in the background for much of the song, letting the vocals consume the space. The evocativeness here makes sense, as this is one of the most lyrically gruelling songs on the album, seeped in feelings of guilt and inadequacy. Jansson describes it as a sort of purge of every negative emotion she could squeeze out. It’s one of those songs that somehow sounds like it's been around for much longer than it has. 

The album hits its peak in the center with “Operator” and “Simple Life.” The former is one of the most fun tracks on the record, with syncopated, punky instrumentals and vocals that are dripping with character. The equally textured “Simple Life” acts as a sardonic mantra. “Everything is fine, Everything is fine / Simple, simple, simple, simple, simple, simple” Jansson repeats flatly in the chorus. The moment she approaches complaint in the verses, she cuts herself off with “Okay, that’s enough of that / Let’s do the chorus again.” The oversaturated vocals give things a nice tape-y feel, too. 

The second half of Brink finds some downright touching moments in the actually quite pretty “Ugly Things,” a dreamy, lovesick tune set against the backdrop of a bus ride, and the penultimate track “Homecoming.” The band knew this track would be on the record from the moment they made it, even though it sounds quite different from the rest of their work. It begins as a simplistic ballad, bursting open halfway through and spilling out its grievances about memory, potential, and letting go. In the end, “Outro” carries the record away like a rocket ship, passing roughly at first through the atmosphere, then floating through space for a moment before it ushers you seamlessly back to the beginning. 

'Brink' was released March 20th, 2026.