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English Teacher

1 festival played

Leeds art-rock that won the Mercury Prize with its debut — wry, literate songs that change shape mid-verse.

English Teacher formed while its members were studying at Leeds Conservatoire, and built up a following through singles released before their debut album, This Could Be Texas, arrived in 2024. The line-up centres on singer, guitarist and keyboard player Lily Fontaine, alongside guitarist Lewis Whiting, bassist Nicholas Eden and drummer Douglas Frost.

Their music sits between guitar-led post-punk and something more expansive, with quiet passages that open out into heavier arrangements and songs that shift tempo and mood rather than settle into a chorus. Fontaine often moves between singing and a flatter, half-spoken delivery, and her lyrics tend towards observation and dry humour, taking in questions of identity, class and life in northern England. Early tracks such as "R&B" drew attention for that combination of wit and unsettled arrangement.

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