There are debut albums that announce a band’s arrival, but Brink is a debut that feels like a band on their third or fourth record. The confidence in the songwriting and the performances is simply extraordinary for a first full-length.

Stockholm trio Girl Scout have spent the past few years building momentum through EPs and a growing reputation in alternative circles but nothing will prepare you for how fully realised Brink is, sounding like a band fully hitting their stride when they’re actually only just getting started. At its heart Brink is a pop rock record with radio-friendly, sun-drenched guitars and big choruses, but there’s a depth and tenderness running through it that catches you off guard repeatedly. It’s bright and fun, but it’s also an extraordinary tapestry of moods with considerable craft.

The album opens with soft vocals laid over huge block guitar chords, establishing the template of gentle pop underpinned by massive, noisy rock immediately. Song 1 is a deceptively understated opener with a tender nostalgic vocal line riding a fast drumline and spending most of its two and a half minutes gradually getting louder. Same Kids then arrives opening up into a bright indie pop banger with a huge chorus filled out with a gorgeous synth line that lifts the whole song several feet off the ground.

Vocalist Emma Jansson is a remarkable presence, singing with a conversational quality that makes you forget how pitch-perfect she is and a storyteller’s instinct to her melodies that draws you in as the guitars crash around her.

The music on the album is relentlessly beautiful and hopeful but the lyrics aren’t quite so sure of themselves, carrying doubt, introspection and regret. Dead Dog feels like running through school hallways carrying a beautiful and cinematic coming-of-age feeling with a soaring vocal line and guitar work that glitters like Johnny Marr at his most joyful. Uh-Huh is a huge, simple anthem built around a chorus of harmonised voices that’s enormous and gorgeous, whilst Operator by contrast is delightfully silly, built on a beep-beep refrain so bouncy it could soundtrack a children’s play centre. Simple Life brings the conversational quality of Jannson’s writing to the foreground feeling like she’s talking herself through meandering thoughts in real time, and Ugly Things is a stunning and romantic slow-dance that shimmers.

Crumbs arrives late in the tracklisting and delivers one of the most affecting moments on the record, climbing and climbing until the chorus refrain “You bleed me dry and leave me with crumbs” lands with tear-jerking force. Beautiful pop rock delivered with tremendous feeling, hitting extremely hard so late in the album because of the careful sequencing. Homecoming closes with the grandeur of a Smashing Pumpkins waltz before the outro on the vinyl settles into an infinite loop that hangs like a cloud. The country that gave us ABBA has always understood pop as an art form, and Brink takes that tradition seriously while still being a slamming rock record. An extraordinary, fully-formed, emotionally rich debut.