English Teacher

Despite carving out a reputation as one of the most exciting new bands on the scene, thanks mainly to their blistering debut album, the Mercury Prize-winning ‘This Could be Texas’, there remains an understated quality to English Teacher’s burgeoning brilliance. So much so that, as the ensemble begins to casually stroll onto the Rock City stage, it takes a moment for the near sell-out crowd to even realise that the evening’s festivities are about to start. There’s a likable swagger to this no thrills approach, an earned confidence in the complexity and relatability of English Teacher’s blossoming back catalogue and a belief in these songs’ ability to grab hold of an audience with their colloquial wit, soul and intensity.

Unsurprisingly, but not disappointingly, much of the set that follows this blasé entrance is taken from the aforementioned debut album. It’s a treat to be given a personalised tour of this syllabus of songs, replete with a blend of intricate art rock musings and frantic indie guitar stylings. Unfortunate, slightly derailing, technical difficulties during ‘Not Everybody Gets To Go To Space’ aside, and despite the nearing familiarity of the material, these songs in a live setting are performed and received with the same fresh vigour and urgency as they were upon their release last year.

One thing that stood out to me, which maybe wasn’t so apparent from simply listening to the album, is the unmistakable dynamism and vocal range of lead singer Lily Fontaine. Her vocal prowess is most strikingly displayed during ‘You Blister My Paint’, a stripped-back ballad of unrequited love which is, essentially, carried entirely by the emotive weight of Fontaine’s room trembling delivery. On top of providing a rotating backdrop of rhythm guitar and synthesiser, Fontaine is deceptively engaging as a frontman; she is reserved and charismatic in equal measure, her energy slowly builds over the admittedly short duration of the show, eventually reaching a gleeful crescendo with a bouncy, sing-along rendition of ‘Nearly Daffodils’. Not to be outshone, the rest of the band are given ample opportunity to sonically showcase their own acumen, as many of English Teacher’s songs are structured to climax with textured, intricate, instrumental sequences that highlight the depth of craftsmanship across the entire group and the unspoken chemistry between them.

Peppered through the night's proceedings are a handful of new songs, presumably to be featured on an upcoming sophomore album. It has to be said that, on the night, these songs did not especially land and failed to leave much of an impact, but this should be said with the caveat that the band themselves made it clear that these songs are still ‘rough around the edges’. After absorbing the lessons of the band’s first album, it’s not hard to imagine that these new songs will one day stand firmly alongside the current class of favourites. Perhaps because of the slight drop in momentum caused by these new songs, or because of English Teacher’s more contemplative, poetic tendencies, there was a noticeable lack of energy emanating from the receptive, yet mostly still, Nottingham crowd.

However, any potential misgivings over the impact of these new songs or the atmosphere is sure to be forgotten by the final act of the show, which sees English Teacher lead a grinning cascade through their loudest, brashest, highest tempo tracks. The stentorian ‘R&B’ represents both a personal highlight for me and a clear distillation of the band’s sardonic social realist sensibilities, but the marked consistency of all these closing songs ensures an electric end to a satisfying night. The band themselves clearly agree, merrily returning to the stage for their first encore of this ongoing tour to end the evening with ‘Good Grief’, one last reminder of the brute force behind English Teacher’s talent and continuing rise to British indie prominence.