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“There’s been a shared understanding, too, that we have had to learn how to trust our own instincts. “It makes us all really happy.” He takes a breath, and continues. “Seeing Lily grow in confidence, particularly when she’s on stage, has been amazing,” says Whiting. The band take it in turns to describe how it was Fontaine’s quiet magnetism – which stands out in a UK guitar scene saturated with undistinguished post-punk acts – seemed to lift Whiting, Frost and Eden out of a shared “jadedness” towards the industry. They’re both tender and completely unflinching at once. Fontaine’s songs sound as though she has spent hours eavesdropping on the pubs and student halls of Leeds short stories that move from nostalgia and insecurity to pulsing desperation in a beat. It placed various ephemera (watery tequila, pool tables, supermarket trolleys) in micro-detail while also expressing a real romantic confidence. 2022 debut EP ‘ Polyawkward’ was the sound of being a young adult in a post-pandemic UK: frustrated and burnt-out, but also determined and stoic keeping your fingers crossed for better days ahead. “The moment you start second-guessing yourselves, that’s when you crumble” – Lewis WhitingĪs a lyricist, Fontaine makes striking use of this collective anxiety, blessed with an ability to establish concrete worlds inside literary pop. It’s easy to forget how quickly all of this has happened.” There’s a brief pause, before Douglas chimes in: “The imposter syndrome is strong.” “It’s amazing to have all these people behind us but it is quite jarring it’s been a mad two years. “The song truly feels like the start of a new era for us,” says Whiting. The song was then initially released in June 2020, before recently being reworked to reflect a whole new swath of influences, from psychedelia to wobbly art-punk – it’s a bold, rhythmic revamp. ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’ was written when the band, having met as students at Leeds Conservatoire, started out as dream-pop group Frank in 2018, before they reincarnated into English Teacher with their current lineup. “We’re swirling in the cauldron of the music industry!” “There’s a lot of cooks involved in what we do now. Having started out on indie label Nice Swan, signing to a major has been a “fairly overwhelming” process, says Whiting, noting that the band were scouted off the strength of their live show. With references to Fontaine’s hometown of Colne, alongside Northern forebear Charlotte Brontë, the propulsive track has become a comforting presence amid the big life changes the band have weathered in recent months.

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Whiting, meanwhile, takes swigs from a portable flask of tea.Ī fortnight before they hit Reading Festival, the band unveiled ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’, their first single via Island Records, home to The Last Dinner Party and FLO. Pints of alcohol-free Guinness and glasses of white wine are ordered notes are compared on a creeping tiredness that has built up over close-packed festival dates at Green Man and Reading & Leeds. “This is the type of quiet we need right now,” says Frost, laughing.
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Reruns of Antiques Roadshow play on a tinny-sounding TV in the corner of the empty front room. Credit: Andy Ford for NMEĤ8 hours later, NME meets English Teacher in a charming, if sleepy-looking Irish pub in north London. This brief moment of intimacy reflects their shared bond: four best friends continuing to reach new heights, all while exuding a shy gratitude towards the fact that they made it here in the first place.Įnglish Teacher on The Cover of NME. The audience breaks into applause before them. “ And I want more.”Īfter guitarist Lewis Whiting sets down his instrument, he extends a hand to Fontaine, and the pair turn a hug into a gentle sway before their bandmates – drummer Douglas Frost and bassist Nicholas Eden – walk to the front of the stage to join the embrace. “ I see everything in skits / I see everything and more,” Fontaine sings, a faint note of wonder in her voice. She pares a near-capacity crowd to one, settling her gaze on a young fan bellowing the lyrics atop a friend’s shoulders. Throughout closer ‘A55’, vocalist Lily Fontaine comes across like the eye of a storm – a deceptive calm amidst a flurry of jagged melodies. But on the last day of Reading Festival 2023, as an unseasonably cold wind whips against the side of the Festival Republic tent and a sea of tired, hungover eyes quiver gently, English Teacher defy circumstance to deliver a low-key triumph of a performance. A midday stage time on the Sunday afternoon of a festival is no artist’s idea of a perfect scenario.
