It’s rare for a young band to have a clear vision for their debut album, but UK alt-rockers English Teacher beat the odds with style and audacity. “This Could Be Texas” slaloms cleverly from genre to genre as vocalist Lily Fontaine pontificates insecurities, inequality, and general British government incompetence. The group successfully melds post-punk to other genres that subvert classic assumptions about them, innovating within the lane of post-post-punk. The group’s big breakthrough came by way of their 2021 viral hit “R&B,” which was snuck into and reimagined for “This Could Be Texas”.
English Teacher released a single, ‘R&B’. The new recording is from their debut album, ‘This Could Be Texas’. Lily Fontaine (vocals, rhythm guitar, synth) says: “When I was with him I had writer’s block and to add insult to irony, the only idea I had was for an R&B top line – the genre people always assumed I worked in. As soon as he ended it, I converted that top line into the lyrics and riff for ‘R&B’, and took it to my three best mates. Putting the effort that you could potentially put into a partner, back into yourself and your career, is cool and sexy and gets you signed to Island Records and writing press quotes in a tour van in Holland and you get to meet Jools Holland. Thanks lad.”
Of the video, they add: “This is an ode to 2021’s original ‘R&B’ video and to Douglas snogging himself. It’s an ode to self-love and an ode to not putting up with bullshit. It’s an ode to the chaos of the calm and the calm of the chaos. It’s an ode to the greatest TV show of all time – The Shivering Truth. Here’s to theatre and here’s to behind the scenes. We fight. We break up. We kiss. We make up. Once again directed by the incredibly talented Sarah Oglesby (Sodium Films), we hope you enjoy.”
Fontaine’s languid vocal style, though, is totally relaxed and shines most when it becomes energetic and sardonic—as heard on “Not Everybody Gets to Go to Space,” with her cool, inconspicuous jab at Elon Musk. Still, English Teacher’s genre identity is multitudinous and can hardly be compared to one band. The title track traverses spoken word and prog rock while “Mastermind Specialism” meddles in acoustic folk.
The Fat Angel Sings 