“I don’t actually have three testicles,” says Lily Fontaine.
The lead singer and lyricist of English Teacher is explaining the genesis of the title track of their first EP on a chaotic Zoom call with the band.
The track’s name “Polyawkward”, is derived from the term polyorchid, referring to someone with more than two testicles. Fontaine uses this idea as a metaphor to paint an image of her secret “social awkwardness”, addressing the sincere via the silly, seamlessly delivered between talk and song.
Around her double-edged lyrics, the band make wonky exclamations and theatrical riffs. It’s visual, driving and exciting, building tension then releasing it.
English Teacher are just off the back of three debut performances at Glastonbury. Formed in Leeds in 2020, the band consists of Fontaine (vocals, guitar, synth), Nick Eden (bass), Douglas Frost (drums, vocals) and Lewis Whiting (lead guitar).
They join me from different corners of the country as we contend with the usual dose of muted mics, bad connection and Frost’s cat Hector meowing throughout.
It’s quickly apparent that this band have more than musical synergy; there’s respect and love in the mix too: “It’s the most collaborative thing I’ve ever been in,” Whiting says, whilst Frost attributes the band’s harmony to their ability to give each other their own space – “we’re very comfortable with silence”.
Given their noisy guitars and use of “sprechgesang”, the band have unsurprisingly been caught up in the lazy labelling of a “post-punk” revival. Bands like Black Midi, Wet Leg and Sorry have all been assigned to this genre, which is problematic, given the stark difference in their sounds.
English Teacher are keen to disentangle themselves from this narrative: “I don’t think that the term post-punk is wrong,” says Fontaine, “I just think that if you put so many things that sound completely different into the phrase post-punk or any genre, then it just becomes obsolete.”
So what do they sound like? “Arts indie,” says Eden, before Whiting interjects: “silly noisy guitar music.”
“That’s a less pretentious answer,” agrees Eden, before Fontaine diplomatically says, “I think both are right.” Finally, Frost throws his hat into the ring: “silly-billy wonky-tonky honkytonk,” he decides.
English Teacher are witty and self-deprecating about their sonic ambiguity, but there is no lack of talent. In fact, this soup of charm and originality makes them more endearing.
On their debut EP Polyawkward (released via Nice Swan in March) variety and juxtaposition are refreshingly key to the music; throughout the five tracks there are pace changes, humour and sincerity, surrealism and personal experiences.
While their lyrics are grabbing attention, the music is by no means taking a back seat, perfectly demonstrated in “Yorkshire Tapas”, where a spoken-word beginning and instrumental end enable both to get the attention they deserve.
Lyrically, though, Fontaine does have a knack for articulating both the deeply personal and the universally relatable, darting between wider issues and intimate experiences: “Keys in fancy dress as a sleeve cuff/ I walk into the night/ Try not to think about love/ And how it gets you home safe/ And then messes the house up.”
The words in “Polyawkward” address many topics, but especially articulate a worrying walk home from a party that Fontaine had left early due to social anxiety.
She remembers “wishing that I had someone with me” owing to the “scary” prospect of making the journey alone in the dark. Fontaine compares her “underlying secrets of things that I deal with in my brain” to the idea of “having that secret testicle hiding”.
The band’s knack for combining wit with candour is clear too in “Good Grief”, where swampy riffs are met with Fontaine’s lyrical poignancy. Observing the atrocities of the pandemic through the personification of the NHS app she shouts, “Track has seen enough this year/ Of everything and everyone but Trace.”
It’s just one example of the cynical yet playful storytelling we’ve come to expect from the band. Heavily influenced by surrealist art and prose – especially Franz Kafka and Salvador Dalí – Fontaine finds both inspiration and comfort in the concept: “Sometimes I think surrealism feels more relatable”, she says. “It just makes me feel something because life is so weird.”
We want songs that are going to make us proud of what we’ve made
