© 2026
Humor and heart combined, the Swedish trio make infectious, soulful songs that you can’t help but fall in love with.
Words by Hollie Geraghty
Weekly Poster Giveaway
Tell us why you love the artist and have a chance to win a free postcard! Shout-Outs are only available on mobile devices.
When Girl Scouts were deciding on the title of their first album, blind faith seemed to lead the Swedish rockers to the word ‘Brink’. “You almost lose that process,” says drummer Per Lindberg about the album’s journey, while trying to pinpoint the moment when the trio – completed by vocalist/singer Emma Jansson and guitarist Kevin Hamring – realized that their experiences could be included in this charged voice. “You don’t really know what it is until it’s done,” he adds, his colleagues bowing their heads in agreement with their Zoom windows. “It kind of came out [us],” agrees Jansson.
Being in a state of uncertainty can discourage some artists, but that’s where Girl Scout found gold. Since forming during the COVID-19 lockdown and releasing their first single ‘Do You Remember Sally Moore?’ in 2022, the band broke out beyond their Stockholm roots with their soaring guitar-driven beats with ’90s garage rock and Britpop influences. Across three personality-filled EPs – 2023’s ‘Real Life Human Garbage’ and ‘Grandma’s Music’, and 2024’s ‘Headache Music’ – they delved into the frustrations and frustrations of adulthood with a great mix of horror, acceptance and good humour.
In that time, Girl Scout has toured the UK and Europe, reached the international stages of festivals, held opening slots for Alvvays, Holly Humberstone and Miriam Bryant, and even recently produced a soundtrack for the 2025 reboot. Skate video game series. So when it came to writing their first full-length project, it was an opportunity for life to “catch-up”. “It’s a reference book for the band, and for us as individuals, and where we are in life,” says Jansson, looking out of the frame. It’s like when you’re in the midst of one of those quarter-life crises, how good things are, and suddenly. not well, and it rotates back and forth. ”
“It’s very different to choose to live the life of an artist” – Kevin Hamring
Since their formation, the group has documented the rare pain of being in your twenties that, despite what people may tell you, lingers long after adolescence. “I don’t feel like a woman / I’m just a child, I try to stay hidden from everyone“Jansson admitted on “Weirdo” that continues from their first EP. It’s a theme that has been carried through all of their projects, and it is highlighted again on “Brink.” The Girl Scout members, now in their 30s, felt the weight of their choice fall on them all at once. “It’s very different from choosing to live the life of an artist,” says Hamring.
Those recurring doubts can affect anyone who has ever chosen to pursue a career in the arts. Fortunately, however, this is a sentiment that everyone can relate to. It’s like…” Lindberg continues, before Jansson thinks: “Now this is everyone’s problem!”
DThe ‘Brink’ is home to self-proclaimed ‘purges’ (‘Keeper’) and frosty industry jabs (‘Crumbs’), to teenage dreams (‘Same Kids’) and nostalgic rock-outs (‘Operator’). Interspersed with the trio’s songs, full of heart and wit, are infectious guitar tracks, with traces of the legends they’ve been influenced by over the years, including The Killers, Nirvana and Jonny Greenwood. That pool of artists expands even further when you consider their classic listening styles, which range from Pavement to Big Thief and LCD Soundsystem.
These influences have permeated music since the founding of Girl Scouts. The group “accidentally turned into a serious project”, Jansson says, after he and a fellow student decided to start a jazz club for extra money while studying at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. United by a shared love of artists such as Elliot Smith and The Beatles, they eventually began writing their own songs and brought in some school friends to form a quartet.
“[The album is] a kind of diary for the group and us as individuals. We lived our lives little by little. – Emma Jansson
As the speed increased, they found a manager through Instagram, who signed to the indie Made Records (although now they have AWAL) and, on the strength of their first songs, they were considered as rising stars in the NME 100 of 2023. Since then they have made several changes, but there is no “hard feelings” around, saying that the members of Janson were available to their original members. often “unforgiving” the demands of being on a full-time team.
As for their names, while it’s true Jansson was a member of the Brownies in her childhood, that only goes back to the origins of Girl Scouts. “I was like, ‘Let’s try it for a few weeks and then we can test it again,'” he recalls. And we didn’t, and it stuck; has been our name ever since. So, are Girl Scouts anything like their unlikely namesake: passionate, energetic, and intelligent? “Per has one of those folding knives,” Hamring deadpanned. I have a lot, so I can totally be a Scout! Lindberg laughs.
What the band may lack in badges, it certainly makes up for in musical understanding. What’s so interesting about ‘Brink’ is how it combines imagination and humor for a realistic – and optimistic – portrayal of human emotions. While Jansson spent most of his childhood in Japan, the US and Germany while the family traveled with his father’s work, his views are as multifaceted as his formative years. Jansson reasons: “It feels more real when it doesn’t decide to be a single point of view, because I don’t think things are just one thing. There are many things happening at the same time.
Indeed, in some ways the title track ‘Dead Dog’ is one of the album’s strongest numbers as it depicts the breakdown of a relationship, lifted by racing drums and shimmering guitar sounds reminiscent of ’90s era The Cure. “I’m your dead dog / Give me my favorite bones on the last ride”, sings Jansson as he builds to the sizzling chorus. There’s a similar feel to ‘Ugly Things’, which contrasts a rarefied swagger with a gauzy, dreamy pop riff: “Bad places / Things that are sad and bad / You make them better / Than they ever were“.
There are also strange assumptions about societal expectations, especially those placed on women. “I may not be a mother to myself or to anyone else“, Jansson declares on the synth-filled “Caretaker”, a song that reflects the negative emotions he believes. “That’s how I would imagine it on a bad day when you wake up hungover and you’re like, ‘Jesus Christ, what am I doing?'” He teases. the song “Mind Message” “Simple Life”, as the singer says “can make children, be a loving wife“.
“When you are a musician, [motherhood] it’s not really something that fits your life the way I think it will,” Jansson explains. On a personal level, I’m not against it. I think maybe I want kids at some point, but I feel very far away because it doesn’t fit any other part of your life.”
“[Grassroots venues] The UK has been very important to us. ”- Kevin Hamring
But for every moment of reflection, there is a moving crescendo waiting on the other side. In order to maintain this careful balance, the team brought in North Carolina-based producer Alex Farrar to put together the record. As fans of the artists she has worked with – Farrar’s impressive list of collaborators includes Wednesday, MJ Lenderman and Snail Mail – Girl Scout first contacted the producer a few years ago in the hope that she could work her magic on their music.
After the band recorded and produced their own songs in Stockholm whenever their schedule allowed, he proved to be the second pair of ears they needed. Lindberg explains: “He brought out certain things in music that maybe we didn’t think were obvious, and he had a big part in how you hear, how you perceive, how music comes to you.”
Girl Scouts are getting ready to go on a trip to Europe, which means re-immersing themselves in the original places that have played such an important role in their journey thus far. “These UK locations have been very important to us,” says Hamring. “There weren’t many places where we could play [in Sweden] when we started, but the UK was full of life when it came to that. It was definitely a place to go.”
It’s not just the opportunities these indie sites have provided for Girl Scouts, but it’s a deep sense of perspective when so many are struggling. “Coming to the place and seeing Coldplay play here half a year before the release of their first album,” says Lindberg.[we saw] that was a stepping stone for them again. Without those places, where would they have gone? Where would the rest go?”
While they have moments of doubt about the path they’ve chosen, one thing helps Girl Scouts see it all through: the team. A Girl Scout wants to live the dream: to travel, play music and connect with others. “I don’t want to do anything else,” says Jansson. “I think if I wanted to work with something else, I probably would have already. The whole credit that the album comes from, why I think we’re all okay with it, is that if we wanted to do something else, we would have done it. We don’t want to.”
The Girl Scout ‘Brink’ sticker is from AWAL.
Listen to Girl Scout’s exclusive playlist to accompany The Cover below on Spotify or on Apple Music here.
Lyrics: Hollie Geraghty
Pictures: Jakob Ekvall
Photo Credit: Douglas Ekman
Location: City Studios
#Girl #Scouts #indierock #anthem #deals #lifes #messiness #Cover #NME.com