I've heard a lot of things and find it hard to be surprised much these days. Even the most radical of band -- including recent ones highly touted as pushing at the edges of genre convention like Wet Leg, Dry Cleaning, Yard Act, and Squid -- have not done much for me, frankly. I like dissonance and noise as much as the next person, but I don't have a lot of time for groups who confuse the sound of busyness for purpose. So what I'm trying to say is that I was too hesitant in checking out English Teacher, as I feared the Leeds outfit would be another in a string of acts like those.
And while the marketing will likely stress the stylistic risks of This Could Be Texas, the quartet's full-length debut, there's so much of this record that is immediately melodic and instantly pleasing that I think only a sort of rave review is in order. Lily Fontaine (vocals, rhythm guitar, synth), Douglas Frost (drums, piano, vocals), Nicholas Eden (bass), and Lewis Whiting (lead guitar) are English Teacher and the four maintain an intuitive sound on this one that is almost jazz-like, though none of this is jazz. "I'm Not Crying You're Crying" finds the four creating a clash of instruments with ideas flying fast and loose until a roaring coda sends this skyward. That kind of audio feeling of release is the pay-off to "The World's Biggest Paving Slab" too, thanks to Lily Fontaine's warm, yearning vocals. "Not Everybody Gets to Go to Space", to use another example, builds and builds, Lily's vocals hopscotching from a sort of call-and-response role with the stop-and-start hooks, before carrying this forward into the territory of an anthem. "Mastermind Specialism", another highlight, is a down-tempo number that reveals the group's strengths at a less hurried pace. English Teacher are inventive, yes, but also quite intuitive players, and ones who can shift gears successfully (and sometimes in the space of one song).
Call it art rock or post-post-punk, but the tunes of English Teacher occupy a space at once removed from the mainstream, and yet which has moments as accessible as big pop. A uniquely iconoclastic album made up of fairly conventional bits of instrumentation, the whole enterprise pleasures immensely and challenges where needed. For all that seems jarring here, and through every juxtaposition of style, English Teacher exhibit such enthusiasm as a functioning unit that the chances taken all yield positive results. At its heart, This Could be Texas, is a warm, inviting record. English Teacher don't seem to be setting out to confuse as much as express themselves in a way that, while not conventional in terms of how other alternative bands do it, has a smart musicality about it. That's why I said it's jazz-like in execution, with the players finding a hook and embellishing it to change meaning, or creating a new vibe out of sweetness and noise (or the resolution of one in favor of the other). Wildly inventive and still hummable, This Could Be Texas is a superb listen, and evidence of the formidable power of English Teacher.
This Could Be Texas by English Teacher is out now.
[Photo: Tatiana Pozuelo]