Everything Is Fine On Girl Scout's Debut Album - Brink
- Josh Kitchen
- 12 minutes ago
- 6 min read
By: Josh Kitchen / March 20, 2026
It’s rare that a debut record sounds like a band already a few albums in, but that’s what Girl Scout’s Brink feels like.
Across the record, from the three-piece Swedish act—comprised of Emma Jansson (guitar, vocals), Per Lindberg (drums), and Kevin Hamring (guitar/bass)—there’s a real sense of confidence in how it’s contained, from the way it opens (literally with a track called “Intro”) to the way it closes. It plays best as a full album, not just a collection of songs. You could throw it on shuffle and live with it, but listening front to back is how you can best live in the world Girl Scout sets out to create. There’s a cohesion here that feels intentional, but never overworked.
Talking with Emma, Per, and Kevin in the middle of a European run—between Helsinki and a return home to Stockholm—it became clear that balance is part of the band’s foundation. Having met studying jazz, there’s an instinct to not overthink things, to let songs come together quickly, and to react in the moment. You hear that in tracks like “Operator” and “Simple Life,” where even the repetition of “everything is fine” carries a kind of self-aware tension—half mantra, half coping mechanism.
At the same time, Girl Scout exist in a broader moment where Scandinavian art and music feels especially present right now—I’m looking at you, Sentimental Value. But while they’re part of that wave, their sound pulls from somewhere more global—something shaped just as much by instinct and collaboration as it is by influence.
For a debut, Brink doesn’t feel like a starting point so much as an opening statement. And talking to them, it’s clear that’s not by accident. In our conversation, we talked about writing without overthinking, what they took from touring with Alvvays, the strange comfort of repeating “everything is fine,” and why, despite how it sounds, Brink really is just the beginning.
“Operator” is such a fun song with funny, tongue-in-cheek lyrics, and I find that along the record there are a lot of great lyrics like that. I love “Simple Life,” and the chant of “everything is fine.” When I hear it, it almost sounds like a mantra, “everything is fine, everything is fine.” I’m hoping you can talk a little bit about that idea and how we kind of try to manifest things like that in kind of a crazy world.
Emma: Thank you for the kind words, first of all. Yeah—I think you hit the nail on the head. That’s definitely what it was. It was kind of just a tumultuous time. And I had, like, I went for a walk, and I had an idea—I think it was around this “Simple Life” thing of just like, wouldn’t it be nice to just kind of settle for anything and then just not think about things so much?
Then I started working on the song. And then I thought, I’m gonna do my best to not think too hard on what I’m writing so that it’s exactly—so I just write off the top of my head and don’t try to change anything, and don’t try to make it clever or smart or perfectly capture the feeling. Just kind of go off the cuff.
Because I think the feeling was like, if the sentiment is that you wish for a simpler life, then you kind of have to be simple with it. And so I wrote it very quickly, just kind of whatever came to mind. So it’s like the “I wanted to be clever, I wanted to be tough” line is very much like, as I’m writing lyrics, like, “fuck, it would be nice if this was really clever,” but this is what it is. And that made it really fun to make, because the core of the song made it very easy to do quickly.
Kevin: You came in with that song, and it was very obvious that this song didn’t exist until late the night before or something. It was very fresh. And then I think we kind of approached what you’re describing in the lyrics—we transformed that into the whole approach of the entire song as well. We recorded a demo, but then we felt like we shouldn’t play the song too much before recording the final thing, because it should be unprepared and a bit sloppy. That’s what makes the song charming.
Emma: It was nice to work quickly because you don’t grow tired of the song. When we got the mix, it still felt fresh because we hadn’t spent hundreds of hours on it.
you guys met studying jazz, and when I hear you talk about the song that way, it reminds me of a kind of controlled chaos that the song hints at, but also the album as a whole. That’s the great thing about jazz—you don’t want to sit with something too long; you want it to be organic and reactive. Per, can you talk a little about how that plays into your sound?
Per: Yeah, I think that’s clearest on that track, because it was very obvious what the song needed to be. There was no alternative—it was just, “this is the song.”
But I think the jazz influence was more obvious in our earlier stuff than it is now. Now we’re maybe moving more toward being a rock band. But the jazz education gave us tools—it helps us understand each other, communicate quickly, and collaborate easily. We share a kind of musical language.
Kevin, from your perspective, how does that show up when you're playing?
Kevin: I come more from production. But playing with Emma and Per, I can see that real-time reaction that comes from jazz. Something happens and everyone just goes with it. That’s a big part of how we create.
Emma, how do you see your jazz background affecting the band now?
Emma: I think it makes you more open-minded. Jazz is misunderstood—it’s not just one thing. When you listen to a lot of it, you realize how much it influences everything else.
It helps you approach melody and structure in a more flexible way. It kind of breaks down this idea of what’s “allowed” in a band, and expands what’s possible.
I also think about bands in your orbit—like Alvvays, who you toured with. I’m wondering what you learned from that experience.
Kevin: It was really inspiring to see how tight-knit they are. They’re like a family.
Emma: Yeah, it was inspiring to see a band at that level be that close.
I feel like that fits you guys too. I think that’s something special about this debut record, Brink—it doesn’t feel like a debut. It feels very confident. I love how it opens and closes, and I think it really works as a full album.
Per: Yeah, thanks. I think all of us really, really appreciate hearing that, because that’s also been a real focal point for us. That’s been something that we’ve actively talked about—like, okay, now it is an album. How do we make this an album? And the album as a format is really important to all of us as well. I think all of us mostly listen to music in the form of albums, exactly. And it felt like, finally—we’ve been going for, what, like five or six years now? So it felt like, finally we’re doing the album, like finally we can put this together as a big work. So I really appreciate you saying that.
Scandinavian culture feels very present in culture and art right now. Like Joachim Trier with “Sentimental Value” being nominated for several Oscars. How do you think about your Swedish identity within that broader artistic moment?
Emma: I think we’re really lucky to be in Stockholm. There’s a lot happening—lots of musicians, producers, writers. It’s very inspiring. Bands weren’t really a focus for a while, but now they’re kind of coming back. It’s motivating to be somewhere where you can see people doing cool things—it makes it feel possible.
Per: We’ve often been told we don’t sound very Swedish. Most of our influences are American or British.
What’s the most Swedish thing about each of you?
Per: I am incredibly afraid of conflicts. A bit anxious as well.
Emma: That’s funny, because I think the Swedish stereotype is that we’re shy, socially reserved—maybe a little uptight. Kevin, you saw that documentary—the one about Swedish dating? It was like, we love rules. We don’t really have social conflicts because everything is built into the system—into Swedish law—so people don’t have to confront each other.
Kevin: Yeah—or there needs to be a very clear reason.
Emma: Yeah, you don’t talk to strangers on the street. If you do, then you think that someone’s about to, like, scam you.
What song are you most excited for people to hear that hasn’t been released yet?
Per: I’ll say “Song One.” There’s something about how it evolved from a piano ballad—it really pulls you in.
Kevin: I’ll say “Ugly Things.” It’s just in the perfect spot on the record.
Emma: I’m excited for “The Kill.” It’s such a weird song—I don’t even know how to play it.
And are there plans to come to the US?
Emma: There’s definitely an ambition—it’s just about making it happen. Not if, just when.
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