English Teacher’s debut album This Could Be Texas has been named as the overall winner of the 2024 Mercury Prize.
The Mercury judging team said in a statement that the Leeds band's LP stood out for its ‘originality and character’, displaying a ‘fresh approach to the traditional guitar band format’.
BBC 6 Music’s Jamz Supernova announced the winner on behalf of the judging panel, who praised the ‘charismatic body of work’ and its ‘winning lyrical mix of surrealism and social observation’.
They further highlighted that This Could Be Texas had a ‘subtle way of wearing its musical innovations lightly’ where new depths were revealed on every listen – ‘the mark of a future classic.’
On receiving the award, English Teacher were seemingly lost for words, explaining that they ‘didn’t really plan this far’. Lead singer Lily Fontaine later thanked her mum, who created the artwork for album.
Lily, who appeared on the PRS panel at Members’ Day Leeds earlier this year alongside fellow nominee Corinne Bailey Rae, said the band owed their career to the support they'd received from local venues, such as Hyde Park Book Club and the Brudenell Social Club.
The quartet, who formed while studying at Leeds Conservatoire in 2020, are the first act from outside London to win the prize since Young Fathers in 2014.
The full list of nominated albums for the 2024 Mercury Prize were:
- Barry Can’t Swim - When Will We Land?
- Berwyn - Who Am I?
- Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown
- Cat Burns - Early Twenties
- Charli XCX - Brat
- CMAT - Crazymad, For Me
- Corinne Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows
- Corto.Alto - Bad With Names
- English Teacher - This Could Be Texas
- Ghetts - On Purpose, With Purpose
- Nia Archives - Silence Is Loud
- The Last Dinner Party - Prelude To Ecstasy
