English Teacher’s debut album This Could Be Texas, twists through themes of inequality, heartbreak, and compassion. Released in April and pulling the Mercury Music Prize in September, its legacy has been cemented in the music industry.

 

Vocalist and frontwoman, Lily Fontaine, spectacularly covers the wide range of emotions and genres on the project. From the spoken singing on “Broken Biscuits,” to the softer and more operatic notes on “You Blister My Paint.” The lyrics themselves are reminiscent of something out of an LCD Soundsystem album. “Not Everybody Gets to Go to Space,” pokes fun at an Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos figure while calling attention to the inequality commercial space travel introduces (“Not everybody gets to go to space, but he did/He worked hard to get himself up”).

 

On the instrumental side of things, no song goes without a neck bending twist or hook. The opening track, “Albatross” is composed solely of four non-repeating verses. “Broken Biscuits” forgoes its blunt spoken nature for a small avent-grande moment near the end with Fontaine adding urgency and a shakiness to her delivery.

 

Furthermore, each song is a sonic reflection of its themes. Space opera synths sparkle through “Not Everybody Gets to Go to Space,” while in a shocking twist, the song “R&B” is not R&B. In “Nearly Daffodils,” Fontaine sings about losing a lover, switching between light vocals and walls of sound, reflecting the themes of acceptance and regret. Every song feels like its own miniature world.

 

If you’re a fan of British spoken, sung indie-rock-prog-electronica and somehow missed this album, give it a listen.