This Could Be Texas

After scoring a record deal with Island on the strength of their debut EP, Polyawkward (2022), Leeds four-piece English Teacher delve deeper into their exploration of angular post-punk, proggy indie rock, and arty poetics on their 13-song full-length debut, This Could Be Texas. Constructed with help from producer Marta Salogni (Björk, Black Midi), its lyrical references to literary and pop culture icons, space travel, current socio-politics, constant disappointment, social alienation, and how there's "no preparation for the breakdown" (from the brooding, spoken-word "Broken Biscuits") seem to imply that this -- wherever this is -- could really be anywhere. The album dives right into a conflict-filled landscape with "Albatross," a reflective, meandering track in which charismatic vocalist Lily Fontaine gives her mother a heart attack, stares at the sun, and is told she's not special, among other daunting events. It's followed by the more urgent "The World's Biggest Paving Slab," which brushes up against both punk and echoing dream pop while establishing that tempo and tenor shifts are to be expected. Later on, a song like the episodic "This Could Be Texas" traverses theatrical, piano-centric cabaret, exacting prog-rock, and strings-enhanced street recordings. It's representative of the album as a whole, with the stagier, more capricious songs fitting seamlessly within a larger suspenseful framework, and a track list that goes on to include the ranting "R&B" (a re-recording of their breakthrough single), the exhilarated yet anxious "Nearly Daffodils," the faux-Bacharach entry "You Blister My Paint," and much more. Chaotic, poignant, pretentious, fascinating, and thoroughly entertaining despite or because of it all, This Could Be Texas ends with "Albert Road," which, importantly, manages to encapsulate the state of the world with "They hate everyone/The world around them never showed/How loving can be fun/That's why they are how they are" -- before its big finish. It will be interesting to see how English Teacher try to follow up such a panoptic debut. ~ Marcy Donelson