An outstanding debut LP – subtle, original and experimental – by the Leeds quartet of Lily Fontaine, Douglas Frost, Nicholas Eden and Lewis Whiting, packed with intelligent, tender, rich, thoughtful, observational metaphor, and broad, inventive instrumentation. Not merely because of additional piano, synths, violins and brass at different junctions, it is too limiting to call English Teacher an indie, post-punk, pop or rock or prog band, so broad is their range of styles, with a series of outstanding, original singles, on this album, but also prior, and on the Polyawkward EP. There are some recognisable stylistic elements in the current canon – woozy, angular post-punk guitars and talk-singing reminiscent of Dry Cleaning on the song I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying, but otherwise you simply can’t pin them down.
There’s the beautiful, confident melodies of poetic opener Albatross, the droll, punchy self-deprecation of The World’s Biggest Paving Slab, the piano-led extended metaphor and wordplay of Broken Biscuits, a depiction of of vivid domestic images to a Britain falling apart under a calamitous government – “Can a river stop its banks from bursting? Blame the council, not the rain.” Among the very best is the superb Nearly Daffodils with its delicious intricate bassline and depiction of the chaos of growth, spring and unexpected change. R&B is about racial identity and is a forceful riposte to presumptions around Fontaine’s musical taste and direction: “Despite appearances, I haven’t got the voice for R&B”. Meanwhile Sideboob sees another of Fontaine’s most poetic songs, pertaining to views of Pendle Hill in the Pennines (“You take every sunset / And somehow make it sexier”) but unlocks also a whole raft of meanings about writing, beauty, privacy and how places are perceived. Closing track Albert Road is another bittersweet and beautiful experimental song about escaping your local area, with dry, humour: “So don’t take our prejudice to heart, we hate everyone … That’s why we are how we are, and that’s why we don’t get very far.” A superb, thought-provoking debut that brings fresh feelings and perspectives on each listen. Out on Island Records.
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Feel free to recommend more new albums and comment below. You can also use the contact page, or find more on social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube, and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share.
Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running: