English Teacher have spoken to NME about being shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, their ‘rivalry’ with Beyoncé and progress on their second album.
The Leeds indie upstarts received the Mercury nod yesterday (Thursday July 25), with the former NME cover stars‘ acclaimed debut ‘This Could Be Texas’ being shortlisted alongside records by the likes of Charli XCX, CMAT, Ghetts, The Last Dinner Party, Corinne Bailey Rae, Beth Gibbons, Barry Can’t Swim and more.
Asked by NME about what it meant to be nominated, frontwoman Lily Fontaine described it as “mental” and called this year’s nominees as “the best year yet. Not just because we’re on it!”
Quizzed on what ‘This Could Be Texas’ tells us about life in 2024, guitarist Lewis Whiting said that it aimed to capture the idea “that places are often far apart are often eerily similar”.
For a band who have been very vocal about how difficult it is for artists to survive and thrive in the current climate, English Teacher said that the honour felt all the more profound.
“There’s a lot of temptation to not continue making music because you physically can’t,” Fontaine admitted. “We had to push through so much stuff to actually make the album. It’s paid off in this weird culturally-recognised way, so it’s worth pushing through the hard times.”
Saying that they’d likely spend the £25,000 prize money on recording equipment (not “drugs” as they joked as part of their ‘Brat’ summer), the band revealed that work was well underway on their next album.
“One of the songs that we’ve written is actually better than all of this album,” admitted Fontaine, before Whiting added: “We’re kind of in the middle of it at the minute. We’re getting stuck into it now.
“I feel like it’s still in the really early stages. It’s hard to say. We’re still figuring that out, but we’re getting started.”
After ‘This Could Be Texas’ saw the band jostling with Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ as the best-reviewed album of 2024, will the next record be the one to knock her from the top spot?
“That’s the aim, right? That’s all we think about going into album two!” joked Whiting. “Imagine: starting some kind of rivalry with Beyoncé!”
Fontaine replied: “I don’t think that’s a good move. I think we should leave Beyoncé alone. I just want it on the record that I love Beyoncé. We’ll have to look out for what her next album title is and then see if we can keep the theme going.”
The band teased some big plans for their UK tour at the end of the year, but before that, you can catch them next week supporting fellow hometown heroes Yard Act at their Leeds Millennium Square show.
“That’ll be lovely,” added Fontaine. “That space is huge. It’s Leeds, it’s big and it’s outdoors, so it’s going to be amazing. Especially after this, it’ll be a nice chance to celebrate in the place that helped us get to here.”
The winner of the 2024 Mercury Prize will be announced in September, before English Teacher kick off a headline tour in November. Visit here for tickets and more information.