Midweek must-watch: English Teacher - 'R&B' live at WFUV

Two and a half minutes that tell you the future of UK indie is in safe hands

Welcome (or welcome back) to Record Shop Stories, a lovingly produced weekly newsletter about independent record stores - the people who run them, the people who cherish them, and the stories that live behind the counter. I also send regular free posts like this one about mind-blowing music videos on YouTube (top tip – watch these in the Substack app to avoid the ads!).

---

---

There was one band’s debut album dominating display walls in two of the Leeds record shops I visited recently - English Teacher’s This could be Texas.

As a place that fervently champions homegrown bands, Leeds is rightly proud of this talented four-piece forged from the city’s student digs in 2020.

I bought the album in The Vinyl Whistle, and it’s a terrific debut.

English Teacher switch up styles and time signatures in the glorious tradition of the best British guitar bands. And Lily Fontaine’s off-beat lyrics bring the whole thing together, revealing new depths with each listen.

They’ve been gigging hard around the UK and Europe since lockdowns lifted – and getting national radio airtime here – but have only played a couple of dates in the US so far. That’s about to change, with their current tour taking them to Washington DC, New York, and Chicago, among other cities, in the coming months.

Not remotely R&B

‘R&B’ is their earliest single, and isn’t R&B of either the old or new variety. This live version, recorded for WFUV radio in New York last November, is an intoxicating sliver of post-punk indie. It’s considerably faster than the original track, and more intense as a result. Over a rising wall of sound that owes more to Sugar than the Sugarbabes, Fontaine deadpans that, ‘Despite appearances, I haven’t got the voice for R&B’.

And if you love the melodic, driving basslines of Alex James, Kim Deal or Peter Hook, I think you’ll enjoy the next 2 minutes, 37 seconds…

If that’s whetted your appetite, check out this delicate live version of ‘Mastermind specialism’, to hear a totally different aspect of the band’s sound.

Don’t miss tickets to catch them this year! And look out for my final (for now) instalment from a Leeds record store, coming out this weekend.

Peace, love and music.

Rich