Mercury Prize is not just a win for Leeds’ English Teacher, but a win for the North and its rising bands
The first non-London band in a decade to win the Mercury Prize just so happens to be a band the Leeds scene all know and love. Forget the champagne, get the Kirkstall Ales – we’re celebrating a huge win for Leeds as its resident indie/post-punk quartet English Teacher swooped in for the 2024 Mercury Prize with their debut album This Could Be Texas. Beating out fellow newcomers and established legends alike, the band came up against Radio 6 Music favourites The Last Dinner Party, Leeds neighbours Corinne Bailey Rae and Nia Archives, as well as established legends Beth Gibbons, proving that bands are in fact making a comeback into critically well-received spheres. Winning on the condition of their “originality and character”, the raw resurgence of the post-punk and indie band sound has not been an easy one and required more ambition and grassroots funding than it exists.
The crafted genius of ‘This Could Be Texas’ explores just that, with themes of the mundane issues in everyday society, rejecting authority, the spirit of showing disdain towards prejudice all enveloped into a bright, reflective soundscape, one that attaches itself to a hopeless landscape of survival mode. Formed at Leeds Conservatoire, this ‘winning lyrical mix of surrealism and social observation’ was praised by the judges, and the defiant, gravelly quality is what makes their sound so distinct, with Fontaines voice a documentation of the many obstacles they’ve faced and conquered. Even NME dubbed them as a ‘vital voice from the heart of UK guitar music’ finding a swift balance of humour and sincerity in Lily Fontaine’s observational lyricism of post-pandemic youth. In an industry that is starving for rising bands, it’s been incredibly satisfying to see their growing success recognised by such a distinguished board of critics and judges.
As someone once new to the Leeds scene, English Teacher has always been a staple of the 2020’s guitar rock scene. The release of the Theo Verney version of ‘R&B’ marked a turning point, having reworked their dream-pop image from their days as local university band Frank to a more self-assured and esteemed version of themselves. It was a track I grew obsessed with for its heavy baseline, ballsy utterances of contempt and chaotic noise rock essence. I’m only echoing what the judges said about the band having played a part in redefining the traditional guitar band sound. Something they sadly missed out that represents English Teacher to the core was that the track and forthcoming EP Polyawkward, the work that tugged them into their major label signing, wouldn’t have existed without the support of music:leeds arts council funding. the latter which many in the local scene have pointed out no longer exists at this moment.
English Teacher have built a slow and steady success and did all the right things a band is told to do, all while half the music industry works against the independent sector. Their success is not just the final boss of Island Records’ endless cash flow as a major label, but the unity of their beloved home of Leeds. A community driven by the backing of independent label executives, radio presenters, promoters, venue owners, sound engineers, artists and family members. All of these roles are cogs to the great machine that produced such a stellar debut album, raw with integrity that the well-oiled luxury of corporate couldn’t capture without working with bands of grassroots origins in the first place.
But it isn’t a unique experience, just one that Lily Fontaine can now consistently and so passionately advocate on behalf of her other contemporaries, as the band maintains their gratitude for their musical birthplace. Notably, she herself has been loudly advocating for more arts funding and has spoken in parliament. It’s clear their contributions to grassroots music only add another substantial layer of ethos as a band, and the northern music communities will be championing them for their loyalty and advocacy for change.
The horrific figures on how arts funding reduction has impacted the North and other working class areas disproportionately are undeniable yet overlooked; introducing radio stations have been cut, resources that are crucial for new bands to allow them to platform their music. No other band has won since 2014 (Dead, Young Fathers of Edinburgh/West Africa) who haven’t had the invaluable, privileged connection to the capital. In 2023, 75% of nominated mercury winners were Londoners. As the foundations of local music scenes crumble, we need now more than ever more than awareness but action, as bands like English Teacher are proof to these tiny pockets of the North, where blossoming talents serve unnoticed by funding, there are plenty hidden gems who can go further and follow in the footsteps to becoming music royalty, despite not having the privilege of living next door to Buckingham Palace. Their win is a classic reminder that great bands can be born in pubs and small line-ups, if the general public and big music bosses want them to be. They will also have the creative freedom to go beyond whatever Britpop working class stereotype is imposed upon them.
Gone are the days when the working class were pigeonholed as one cookie-cut aesthetic of the common and easily impersonated for a middle-class artist’s relatable authenticity. No, that’s still a huge problem in indie music, so it shouldn’t go unnoticed when actual working class people come through the pipeline. It remains interesting that the first Northern band to win in a decade is a band that focuses on mostly social and political content, and opens up a debate for how future wins are decided. Is it Northern culture only seen as valuable for counterculture or is all music inherently political?
Written and edited by Eszter Vida
