Following a trilogy of introductory EPs, a buzzed-about tour with Alvvays, and a mountain of global acclaim since they first emerged in 2022, the Stockholm-based trio teamed up with Alex Farrar (Wednesday, Snail Mail) for their first-ever full-length record. A sun-drenched prism of Girl Scout’s guitar-driven indie rock, “Brink” refracts with a new glow from each song to the next.
Towering anthems intersecting with hushed tenderness. Nostalgia with momentary living. Doubt with joy. Forever a band of dualities, “Brink” is no exception for Girl Scout. Comprised of 13 tracks caught between apocalyptic anxiety and wistful escapism, the album captures the all-too-familiar crossroads of feeling stuck, yearning for change, and standing on the edge of something unknown
When Girl Scout were deciding on the title of their debut album, blind faith seemed to lead the Swedish indie rockers to the word ‘Brink’. “You kind of lose yourself in that process,” says drummer Per Lindberg of the album journey, as he tries to pinpoint the moment the trio – which is completed by vocalist/guitarist Emma Jansson and guitarist/bassist Kevin Hamring – realised their experiences could be encapsulated in this existentially charged word. “You don’t really know what it is until it’s done,” he adds, his bandmates bobbing their heads in agreement from their respective Zoom windows. “It kind of crept up on [us],” agrees Jansson.
Existing on the verges of uncertainty can be unnerving for some artists, but this is exactly where Girl Scout have struck gold. Since forming during the COVID-19 lockdown and releasing their debut single ‘Do You Remember Sally Moore?’ in 2022, the group have broken out beyond their Stockholm roots with their soaring guitar anthems that thrash with the spirit of their ’90s garage rock and Britpop influences. Across a trilogy of personality-filled EPs – 2023’s ‘Real Life Human Garbage’ and ‘Granny Music’, and 2024’s ‘Headache’ – they zeroed in on the angst and anguish of young adulthood with a healthy mix of panic, acceptance and good humour.
When it came to writing their first-ever full-length project, it was an opportunity for a much-needed life “catch-up”. “It’s kind of a diary for the band, and for us as individuals, and where we are in life,” shares Jansson, pensively gazing out of frame. “We were flailing a little bit in our own lives. It’s like when you’re in one of those quarter-life crises, how things are fine and then all of a sudden very not fine, and it pivots back and forth.”
Since their formation, the group have documented the awkward growing pains of being in your twenties that, despite what people may tell you, long persist after adolescence. “I don’t feel like a woman / I’m just a kid, trying to stay hid from everyone else,” Jansson confessed on the spiralling ‘Weirdo’ from their first EP. It’s a theme that’s threaded throughout all their projects, and is pulled into sharp focus once again on ‘Brink’. The members of Girl Scout, now in their early thirties, have felt the weight of their choices crashing down on them all at once. “Being at this point in life and doing music, you start to see the disconnect between people who are the same age as you, with where they are in life,” says Hamring. “It’s very different choosing to live life as a musician.”
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