English Teacher

Easily one of the most played albums in the shop this year, the very-worthy-Mercury-Prize-winning debut album from the Leeds indie ascendants is one to come back to over and over, to fall in love with anew each time.

The band have been shaping the contours of this record’s irregular topography for a number of years and the space they’ve gifted its creation reaps healthy dividends as every moment on this assiduous album feels intricately designed and emphatically indispensable. They are confidently minimalist and unapologetically maximalist, often within the friable confines of the same song.

Sprawling way beyond those initial post-punk tags, the band showcase a dazzling versatility, depth and range to their sound – from joyous pop to melancholic comedowns to kaleidoscopic art-rock to soulful balladry to complex polyrhythms – all with cracking guitar riffs and inventive melodies. Central to their artistry are Lily Fontaine’s superlative vocal chops, which elevate the simplest of tunes to levels of alluring magnetism.

Lyrically addressing social deprivation and political mismanagement, alongside themes of identity, love, loss and celebrity, whilst musically taking us on a head-spinning sonic safari, it’s a future classic. And closing out with the potency of ‘Albert Road’, no album this year builds to a more majestic denouement.