English Teacher

From Frank to the Mercury Prize

English Teacher are a Leeds indie rock, art rock and post-punk band whose members met at Leeds Conservatoire, then Leeds College of Music. They began in 2018 as a dream-pop band called Frank, who released the EP Valentine in 2019, and played their first gig as English Teacher in 2020. Lily Fontaine, the primary lyricist, was born on October 17, 1997 in Huddersfield and grew up in Colne, Lancashire, citing Alex Turner, Amy Winehouse, the Smiths, Joy Division, John Cooper Clarke, Benjamin Zephaniah and Carol Ann Duffy among her influences. The first single was "You Won't Believe How Beautiful She Is When It Has Snowed" (2020), and the EP Polyawkward (April 2022, Nice Swan) was called a deliciously sour debut EP by NME; they won rising star at the 2022 Youth Music Awards.

In 2023 they signed to Island with "The World's Biggest Paving Slab" and released "Nearly Daffodils" in early October ahead of their biggest UK headline tour, from the District in Liverpool on October 8 to Night & Day in Manchester on November 1. Their debut album This Could Be Texas (April 12, 2024, Island) was produced by Marta Salogni and reached 8 in the UK. Metacritic scores it 88 from 15 critics, NME gave 5 of 5, Line of Best Fit 9 of 10 and Pitchfork 7.4. A live LP from the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds followed on April 20, 2024, and the EP Live from BBC Maida Vale on August 30. They won the Mercury Prize on September 5, 2024 at Abbey Road Studios, the first non-London act to win since Young Fathers in 2014, for £25,000; the judges praised a winning lyrical mix of surrealism and social observation.

They were fifth in the BBC Sound of 2025 and nominated for best new artist at the 2025 Brit Awards. They have supported the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Paolo Nutini, Parquet Courts and Yard Act and made their SXSW and Glastonbury debuts, and toured the UK and Ireland in 2025, including the Roundhouse in London on November 25.