English Teacher

Few awards and accolades in British music generate the buzz and the hype of the Mercury Prize. Awarded every year since 1992 to the best album in British music that year, some of the all time greats have had the privilege of winning this accolade: Pulp, Arctic Monkeys, PJ Harvey, and most recently Sam Fender have all been a Mercury Prize winner. In 2024, it was the turn of four-piece from Leeds, English Teacher, consisting of vocalist Lily Fontaine, guitarist Lewis Whiting, drummer Douglas Frost, and bassist Nicholas Eden, for their record “This Could Be Texas”. To win this award with their debut album no less, it’s a testament to just how fresh and exciting this group of people are. Revered by some as “one of the finest debuts of the decade”, it has certainly created not only a lot of demand to see this band, but a growing expectation. While critics and listeners may be looking further towards the future with all eyes on their second album, their show in Brighton highlighted that they should be in a very comfortable position to thrive long into the next few years.

If you want to open any show with a bang, then a three song run of “This Could Be Texas”, “R&B” and “Broken Biscuits” is certainly one way to do it. These three songs help embody exactly what the band is about and their sound, whether you’re a long time fan or it’s your first time hearing of them. Deep and profound lyrical substance, incredibly arranged instrumentation and irresistible melodies are all components that make this the best run of tracks to open up with. However, immediately following this up with two unreleased tracks (titled “Toothpick” and “Billboards” in the setlist) is certainly a risky move, especially with what was already a pretty mundane crowd for indie standards. Thankfully, these tracks received a warm and positive reception from the audience, and deservedly so. While “Toothpick” was a lovely ballad-like track, “Billboards” was the real star of the show - its polyrhythmic approach, its beautiful harmonies between the synths and the work of guitarist Lewis Whiting, and the sheer musicality on display showed that there is definitely something to look out for once the band decide to commence the rollout of their second album.

Unfortunately, the energy established at the beginning of the set starts to teeter off slightly. This was mainly due to a prolonged run of slower, more intricate songs, with this run yielding some mixed results. Despite this being a drop-off from where things started out, there were definitely some positives to take from this part of the set. For one, the moments where things were a bit heavier were excellent. Take the sprawling track “Not Everybody Gets To Go To Space” as an example, with a few head bops amongst those around complimenting how well constructed of a song it is, especially in its outro. Nevertheless, not everything stuck the landing. “You Blister My Paint” highlights Lily’s soft and delicate falsetto, but at moments it felt unsustained and breathy. This could be forgiven when considering how intensive the band’s touring schedule has been this year, with this show being one of their last for 2025. However, “The Best Tears Of Your Life” was less of a case of tired vocals, and more of a case of it just not working. Admittedly one of the weaker tracks off of “This Could Be Texas”, the compressed auto-tune on Lily’s vocals - while an obvious stylistic choice - is poor and messy in a live setting. This took away from what an amazing set of vocals Lily has and is a song that I wouldn’t be surprised to see scrapped on future tours.

Despite this, a strong end to the set brings us back to the core of English Teacher and why they’ve been so critically acclaimed. “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab” was played at a faster-than-usual tempo, which helped give it an extra quality in a live setting, and while it’s a common technique that bands do to enhance their performance, English Teacher do an incredibly effective job with it. Another highlight of this final stretch of the set was “Nearly Daffodils”, an opportunity where drummer Douglas Frost and bassist Nicholas Frost really get to shine. The instrumental break of this song was brilliantly aided by how clear the mix was - it provided great listening, getting to hear each instrument separately combining altogether to create a beautiful wall of sound. Having played their entire album in full, the band chose to play two songs from their debut EP as the encore. While both “Polyawkward” and “A55” were great choices, the latter stood out as the perfect way to end a show. Lily’s powerful vocals at the end really helped serve as a final statement for the evening, a reminder of not only where the band started but why they are in the position they are now. There’s still some things to figure out in order to be the band the critics have hyped them up to be, but if they deliver on the high expectations preceding their next album, who knows what heights they can reach.