This Could Be Texas is the debut album from the British band English Teacher, made up of Lily Fontaine (vocals, rhythm guitar, synth), Douglas Frost (drums, piano, vocals), Nicholas Eden (bass) and Lewis Whiting (lead guitar).

The band have been together since at least 2018 (they met at the Leeds Conservatoire, where they were all students); their first release listed on Discogs is a demo of “Valentine” and they have released a few singles, a couple on 7” vinyl. This Could Be Texas includes three of these singles, namely the dynamically dramatic “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab” (which the band memorably performed on the BBC’s Later With…Jools Holland in November 2023), the frenetic, not-quite Wordsworth “Nearly Daffodils” and “R&B” (of which more later).

Fontaine has said that she wants the album to “feel like you’ve gone to space and it turns out it’s almost identical to Doncaster [a city in South Yorkshire]. It’s about in-betweens, it’s about home, and it’s about Desire Paths.” To this extent there is something inscrutable about the album, with a distinctive idiosyncratic style helped by hints of Fontaine’s Lancashire accent, bursts of difficult instrumental squalls reminiscent of Wilco wigging out, and musical shifts in style. Fontaine seems to effortlessly alternate between a spoken word and sung delivery (“Broken Biscuits” is a fine example), and there is occasional experiment into modern pop, particularly on “The Best Tears Of Your Life” and “You Blister My Paint”.

In several songs Fontaine reflects on being mixed-race (she says she’s half Yorkshire, half Lancashire) in an intolerant post-Brexit world. “Despite appearances, I haven’t got the voice for R&B”, she declares wryly in the minimalist punk of “R&B”, and she implores not to take others prejudice to heart in “Albert Road”, named after a hometown road in Colne.

Undoubtedly Fontaine has star quality but English Teacher are the sum of their parts; “Mastermind Specialism” and “I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying” benefit from additional vocals from Frost and the band can both tone down and ramp up their playing to suit the subject. “Sideboob” defies the expectations of the title by being a meditative walk with a camera crew to explore history (inspired by the natural beauty of the Pennines), and “Not Everybody Gets To Go To Space” is inventively intense. It’s a debut that delivers on its feverish anticipation.

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Label: Island Records
Release Date: 12 APR 2024