Leeds, UK-based English Teacher recently released their debut album, This Could Be Texas, via Island Records. The quartet soon embark on a USA tour that includes a show at The Atlantis in DC on Sunday, June 9!
English Teacher consists of Lily Fontaine (vocals, rhythm guitar, synth), Douglas Frost (drums, piano, vocals), Nicholas Eden (bass), and Lewis Whiting (lead guitar). This Could Be Texas, the band’s first studio record, was produced and mixed by Marta Salogni (black midi, Depeche Mode, Björk) and represents the four songwriters’ sonic journeys thus far, with some tracks written at university in 2016-2019’s post-nest-fleeing nostalgia and others in the weeks before entering the studio.
It bursts with intricate, math-rock leanings, literary references, and meticulously crafted melodies with lyrics that explore far-ranging themes including social issues, struggling to belong, mental health, and science fiction.
On several songs, Fontaine reflects on growing up as a mixed-race individual in a place “where many didn’t have understanding or even tolerance towards people who are different,” which only became more evident as she gained adulthood in the era of the Brexit referendum. From their earliest days practicing in basements to gigging at grassroots venues and more, This Could Be Texas provides a fitting reflection of English Teacher’s work to date.
Watch the official music video for “Best Tears of Your Life” by English Teacher on YouTube:
Heralding the sound of a band inhabiting a sonic identity all their own, This Could Be Texas both begins and ends with references to nineties touchpoints — melodic, college rock-worthy guitars on opener “Albatross,” and a huge arena-worthy climax to the anthemic “Albert Road.” In between, there are the subtle, experimental landscape changes of “Not Everybody Gets To Go To Space,” and the more grounded, intimate likes of “Broken Biscuits” and “Nearly Daffodils.” The pace is forever shifting as they move smoothly through the gears; rave-reviewed singles “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab” and the reworked “R&B” have a very different feel to something like the soaring balladry of “You Blister My Paint,” yet both encompass a similar sort of searing energy flowing through the entire album.
English Teacher
W/ Pretty Bitter
The Atlantis
Sunday, June 9
Doors @ 6:30pm
$20
All ages