Within this wide-open scale of style and flair, English Teacher do their best to fill in as much spark and detail as possible. ‘This Could Be Texas’ is a galloping debut that might have the ambitious foundations placed down, yet stumbles as it moves along the way.
The 2020s sure have a bunch of bands and acts emerging within the British music scene, specifically within the post-punk and art rock strains where they compile more snarl, wit, and experimental fancywork that is wheeling through with their own fascinating brand of artsy and clever approach to their musicality. With specific acts like Black Country, New Road, Squid, and Black Midi, there now comes the newer acts that are taking nods and influences from the way they approach their compositions, writing, and performances as a basis on where the experimental flair would go even further, for better and for worse. A case example of this is English Teacher, a rising post-punk act that started off in 2022 with their EP ‘Polyawkward’, slowly getting more attention with their new batch of singles in 2023, which then whirled altogether for their debut album this year, ‘This Could Be Texas’.
Going into the depths of this record, there is a sense of scale within the brand of post-punk, art rock, and indie rock that English Teacher is dwelling into, all with an explorative attitude that at the very least shows the band going all in for their debut. It is indeed all-rounded in the instrumental textures and compositional touches as there are a lot of punchy and brighter tones that compliment the melodic gallops that allow Lily Fontaine’s spirited performances to shine through. Thus, this all comes with cuts that do snap. ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’ and its sparking grooves get succumbed with measurable amounts of reverb on the chorus sections, the dynamic swell of ‘Broken Biscuits’ is carried along with Fontaine’s sharper delivery, the roaring grooves from the basslines, guitar flourishes, and flickering drums on ‘R&B’ continue to bulldoze as it goes on, the string-touched slow burn that moves the acoustics of ‘Mastermind Specialism’ to its most potent beauty, ‘This Could Be Texas’ takes its theatrical mood to a whirlwind as the glinting keys lead to the more effective progressive passages, and ‘Albert Road’ has all of the instrumentation weaving in and out as the melodies build up to a wondrous finish.
With this album embracing this expansive scale, that aspect is then reflected through the writing that has a sense of observing the harrowing state of Britain and how it blunts the individuals towards approaching their dreams and wants as they have to churn through the struggle to keep themselves sustained within a hellish capitalist landscape, not even helped out with how this also makes them question their identities within their lives. This also includes the band themselves as Lily Fontaine’s songwriting has a personal edge where all of the scenes may as well be perceived as something metatextual for the band, especially as they are musicians who have taken their time to make music that has now seen their breakthrough this year, and Lily Fontaine provide detail about her irks with her identity as a mixed-race woman who a lot of people will assume that she only works in the R&B scene on the song ‘R&B’. Yet despite the quibbles towards that exhausting process of pushing through to survive as that can also lead to numbing effects, there is an ounce of strength now gathered at the very end of the dour stasis that will allow them to move farther to various roads ahead.
However, as much as there is a momentous scale inserted within this project, there are a couple of frustrations that flicker away from the impact of this record. For one, there is a flack in the overall structure where it might start strong, yet the momentum eventually subsides as the tracks get slower and spare. This is not helped out by a couple of compositions that just end up underwhelming as the rest of the standout cuts, especially with melodies that get really bland or production choices that get quite odd, specifically with ‘The Best Tears of Your Life’ where the autotune paired with the tedious hook just kills the tone of that song. Perhaps the biggest aspect why this record just doesn’t work that well is more on the aspect that, despite having more accessible tones, they wear their influences on their sleeves and don’t go far enough to provide a distinctive flair in the big scope of the modern post-punk and art rock scene that went bigger and sharper in their own way. Whereas for English Teacher, it felt like they’re still observing for a path to go to, willing to go big to start things off, yet not going even further to make them stand out amidst the crowd.
To reinstate, English Teacher does have a brighter tone to their compositions and instrumentation that allows this album to be a pretty accessible listen that has quality glimmering within its expansive scale, paired with performances and writing that do have their shining moments. However, within that scale also comes a tedious sense of momentum, with melodies and production that don’t cut above, alongside the thought that their exploration within post-punk doesn’t stick out, resulting in the band still wading through their influences and keeping it rather mellow rather than break into their own unique mold. There might be hesitation within a larger space that might overwhelm the band, but once they keep looking around and about, they should eventually see a path that will lead to a concise, yet sharper sense of where they want to go.
Favorite Tracks: ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’, ‘Broken Biscuits’, ‘Mastermind Specialism’, ‘This Could Be Texas’, ‘R&B’, ‘Albert Road’
Least Favorite Track: ‘The Best Tears of Your Life’