Mercury Prize winning dreampop/psych emo indie band English Teacher light up KOKO with big tunes wrapped around big hearts.
The recipients of the 2024 Mercury Prize are an even bigger sign of how music is changing and growing. English Teacher's debut Album This Could be Texas boasts a uniquely varied collection of songs that transcend all manner of genres. After seeing the success of bands like Sprints and NewDad this year, we are truly being treated to powerful female voices, paving the way for a fresher music scene. Hailing from Leeds, this northern quartet are the first act outside of London to receive this prestigious award since Scotland’s Young Fathers in 2014.
KOKO was nothing short of bustling from the get-go, a former theatre which was fittingly staging a work of art. Statues of daffodils littered the stage, referencing their single Nearly Daffodils. Beyoncé’s Texas Hold’em was their entrance song, sparking the odd chuckle amongst us all. They opened with R&B, a post-punk tune, with Fontaine’s lyrics speaking of how everything about her style points towards R&B but she defiantly breaks down your expectations. She delivered a statement of originality, with haunting bass and guitar riffs accompanying her along the way. Due to their relatively new exposure, the setlist was not without a lot of their older catalogue. Early on we were treated to A55, Mental Maths and Polyawkward in a row. All three of these appeared in the Polyawkward EP from 2022 and it very much showcased their raw talent, maybe less polished musically, but it helped you appreciate their journey. Mental Maths in particular grabbed me, with Douglas on drums carrying the sound and building an intense crescendo toward the latter stages all while Fontaine is singing about a time, she “had a panic attack in a supermarket”. You really felt like you were there with her.
As they reached the midpoint the ballads were pulled out with Blister My Paint bringing everyone to a standstill. The range and variety on show was in full flow from this talented quartet. Following on from this, a gentle piano commenced the masterful composition that is, This Could Be Texas, the title song of their album. What I began to appreciate even more from seeing this live was the individual honing that each member had done to perfect this song. Everything from the sweet dulcet tones to the tip-toe piano and then suddenly a belting crescendo of guitar riffs and drumming. It’s a kind of song that is over before you can catch your breath but was also one of the longer tunes seen on the album. In my eyes that’s what makes a song a classic, one that is heavy in body but executed swiftly. There are plenty of examples in the whole album, which makes me no opposer to their Mercury Prize.
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Nearly Daffodils is such an intricately written song about how you can plan and nurture ideas, but life can get in the way. Lines like “All the plans we tiptoed around” and “But now the fields are full of red and blue with nothing in-between.” These showcase the artistic struggle that these guys have powered through to create their sound. It’s such a relatable theme and again, like This Could be Texas, I could see a seemingly improvised composition that had been fine-tuned. More evidence that sometimes plans can fall through so you got to trust your instinct. The staccato drumming, changing speeds at will and more finger plucked guitar riffs brought another fantastic conclusion to another future classic. As a sucker for wordplay, just the final line, “You can lead water to daffodils, but you can’t make them drink.” Wow, such a simple mashup of a classic saying, and it’s so heavily loaded with meaning and subtext.
While not the most talkative, Fontaine held herself beautifully, with many a thank you and a cheeky couple of dad jokes thrown in for good measure. The encore was met with joyous applause, for at one point there seemed to be some doubt as to whether they had enough time to come back out, even some of the members looking a little apprehensive as they checked with the sound crew. Suddenly, they jumped back in and ended with R&B, only this time twice as fast, everyone was ecstatically bouncing and they bowed out humbly, all arm in arm.
A wholesome and truly inspired performance. Ticking off O2 Shepherds Bush Empire the night before to then light it up at KOKO, you gotta hand it to these guys! The anticipation for their next album is already brewing and it will be fascinating to see what direction they take and how they build on what they’ve already achieved.
Further Reading!