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Rock band English Teacher’s debut album, This Could Be Texas, has been announced as the winner of the 2024 Mercury Prize.
The Leeds-formed four-piece, fronted by Lily Fontaine, impressed the judges with their “winning lyrical mix of surrealism and social observation, alongside a subtle way of wearing its musical innovations lightly”, on songs such as “I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying”, “Albatross” and “Broken Biscuits”.
They beat fierce competition from pop star Charli XCX – whose sixth album Brat was considered a strong favourite to win – baroque pop-rock band The Last Dinner Party, rapper Berwyn and singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae.
This year’s ceremony – scaled down after organisers failed to find a sponsor – took place at Abbey Road Studios in London and was hosted by Annie Macmanus and Huw Stephens.
Guest presenter, 6 Music’s Jamz Supernova, announced the overall winner on behalf of the judging team, with the band visibly struggling to overcome their shock as they accepted the award.
“We just thought we’d make a band,” Fontaine said, while her bandmates paid tribute to members of the Leeds music community, including the Brudenell Music Social Club’s owner, Nathan Clark.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
The judging panel said: “This has been a really tough year for the Mercury Prize judges, with the final 12 albums being so reflective of our diverse and rich musical landscape. There was so much passion and enthusiasm for each one.
“In the end, though, we did agree that This Could Be Texas by English Teacher stands out for its originality and character. A winning lyrical mix of surrealism and social observation, alongside a subtle way of wearing its musical innovations lightly, displays a fresh approach to the traditional guitar band format. This Could Be Texas reveals new depths on every listen; the mark of a future classic.
“The Mercury Prize was set up to celebrate the album as an artistic format in its own right and all the judges agreed that this charismatic body of work deserves to be the 2024 Mercury Prize Album of the Year.”
English Teacher were tipped by The Independent as Ones to Watch in 2023 and recently featured in a stripped-back Music Box session.
In a four-star review of This Could Be Texas, The Independent’s Louis Chilton praised its “crafty” and “allusive” lyricism, as well as its ambitious sound.
“English Teacher are often characterised as ‘post-punk’ – a pigeonhole that is only half accurate,” he wrote. “[It’s] apt at points – particularly when they twin sharp, rhythmic guitars with Fontaine’s drolly inflected sprechgesang, as they do on the breathless and slippery ‘I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying’.
“Fontaine speak-sings, too, through verses of the mercurial “Not Everybody Gets to Go to Space”, which evokes – not for the first time on the record – the raw and potent sounds of Scottish art-rock group Life Without Buildings.”
This year marked Charli’s second spot on the Mercury Prize shortlist, following one for her 2020 lockdown album, How I’m Feeling Now.
Other former nominees on the 2024 shortlist included Trinidad-born, London-raised rapper Berwyn (previously shortlisted in 2021 for his mixtape Demotape/Vega) and Leeds singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Ray, who was up this year with Black Rainbows, her psych rock-leaning exploration of race, identity and empowerment.
Brat saw Charli return to collaborate with many of her avant-garde peers, such as AH Cook, Gesaffelstein, Easyfun and Hudson Mohawke. It was dubbed by the artist as her “most aggressive and confrontational record”, but also her most vulnerable.
Fans heard this on the cocky “Von Dutch”, in which she mocks a jealous competitor, and on the braggadocio of “360”, where she namechecks It Girls such as Julia Fox. Then there was “Girl, So Confusing”, where she realises that her own insecurities are what led to a rivalry with another pop singer, and “I Might Say Something Stupid”, about feeling out-of-place at a party.
Such was the cultural impact of the album that it was co-opted by the campaign team of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, after Charli shared a post to X/Twitter that stated simply: “Charli IS Brat.”
Charli skipped the ceremony, as she was in the final stages of rehearsing for her US tour with Australian pop singer Troye Sivan. Her co-producers AG Cook and Easyfun attended on her behalf.
The full shortlist for the 2024 Mercury Prize is as follows:
Barry Can’t Swim – When Will We Land?’
BERWYN – Who Am I
Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown
Cat Burns – early twenties
Charli XCX – Brat
CMAT – Crazymad, for Me
Corinne Bailey Rae – Black Rainbows
corto.alto – Bad with Names
English Teacher – This Could Be Texas
Ghetts – On Purpose, With Purpose
Nia Archives – Silence Is Loud
The Last Dinner Party – Prelude to Ecstasy
English Teacher’s win takes place in the same week they announced they were scrapping their forthcoming US tour “for health reasons”, having previously remarked on the financial strain created by touring in an interview with The Guardian.
This year’s Mercury Prize matched 2020 as the greatest gender balance in the award’s history, with eight out of 12 shortlisted acts being female or female-fronted.
To be eligible, albums by British and Irish artists must have a UK release date between 15 July 2023 and 12 July 2024.
A win tends to result in a welcome sales spike. Last year’s winners, jazz quintet Ezra Collective, enjoyed a 6,012 per cent increase in sales of their album Where I’m Meant to Be immediately after receiving the prize, according to data from the Official Charts Company. The record also re-entered the Top 40; in November, the band will become the first jazz act ever to headline Wembley Arena.
