English Teacher

Formed in Leeds in 2020, English Teacher brings together Lily Fontaine, Lewis Whiting, Douglas Frost and Nicholas Eden — four musicians who attended Leeds Conservatoire and initially performed under the name Frank. The English quartet operates within an indie-rock framework that blends art rock and post-punk: songwriting on the move, angular guitars, frequent dynamic shifts and more atmospheric passages that trace back to their dream-pop beginnings. English Teacher’s songs alternate between tension, irony, observations of everyday life and tonal ruptures, without confining themselves to the driest post-punk template. Their first single, “R&B”, was released in 2021 and announced the band’s arrival, followed by the EP Polyawkward in 2022 on Nice Swan Records. In 2023 the band played more widely across UK stages and appeared on Later... with Jools Holland, while tracks like “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab” and “Nearly Daffodils” accompanied the evolution of their repertoire. This trajectory culminated in This Could Be Texas, their debut album released in 2024 on Island Records, where English Teacher developed a broader sound without losing its taste for contrast — an album that won the Mercury Prize that same year.