English Teacher

About

Mercury Prize winning four-piece, English Teacher’s debut album This Could Be Texas saw them take the indie rock scene by storm

English Teacher are an indie rock four-piece from Leeds and Lancashire. They won the Mercury Prize for their debut album This Could Be Texas, in 2024, a year which saw them play numerous international shows, including at Glastonbury Festival, and support IDLES on their US tour. They recently received a 2025 BRIT Award nomination for Best New Artist.

An early iteration of the band was Frank, a dream-pop outfit named as a nod to Jon Ronson’s pseudo-biopic of Frank Sidebottom; some of that sound still lingers, but now as only one shade on a vivid, technicolour palette. Those familiar with English Teacher’s EP will have heard them try-ing on different hats already; taking their cues from the likes of Black Country, New Road and black midi as they experimented with off-kilter time signatures on Polyawkward, and, before that, began the work of tastefully collecting nineties rock references with R&B. Over time, they figured out what fit and what didn’t. They elegantly sidestepped potential pigeonholing with the Brixton Windmill scene by moving away from the sound of those bands, whilst carrying with them some of their anarchic spirit. This Could Be Texas is the sound of a band inhabiting a sonic identity all their own.