Each day of December this year, I’m highlighting one of my favourite albums of 2024. Counting down the list, we start with #31 on December 1st and go all the way down until we’ve reached #1 on December 31st. Today, #18 on my Album of the Year list: English Teacher – ‘This Could Be Texas’.

English Teacher is arguably one of this year’s most talked about indie bands. After releasing many successful singles and playing plenty of impressive shows, the world’s interest in debut album ‘This Could Be Texas’ rose to a high. Everybody wanted a piece of the latest sensation from Leeds. Fair enough: with their fresh take on the somewhat saturated post-punk sound of recent years, English Teacher’s first arrived at exactly the right time.

To say ‘This Could Be Texas’ lived up to the expectations is a massive understatement. With ratings going through the roof and it even having won the Mercury Prize, this album is easily one of the most critically acclaimed releases of the year. No surprise I’ve seen it being featured in many people’s Album of the Year lists already. But what is it exactly that makes this album such an outstanding gem in 2024’s big pile of indie releases?

With post-punk going through a big revival in recent years, it’s easy to compare English Teacher with bands like Yard Act, Squid, or even Black Midi. For them to be standing out between these already relatively renowned groups is quite an impressive feat. The trick is in English Teacher’s approach to the genre. This band doesn’t get stuck in making one specific kind of indie. Instead, on ‘This Could Be Texas’, the band ranges from subtle and timid songs to confronting and unpredictable tunes. Some being straightforward post-punk songs with spoken word vocals, others being borderline indie ballads. The Leeds lot have carefully crafted themselves a sound that fits them and them alone. This results in ‘This Could Be Texas’ sounding like it’s some band’s fourth, rather than a debut album.

Of all English Teacher’s earlier singles, only breakthrough song ‘R&B’ – in a brand new mix – made it onto the album. This song is the perfect example of the band’s great growth over the years: the differences between this ‘R&B’ and the original ‘Theo Verney Version’ are massive! Clearly, English Teacher took their time to carefully put together their debut, and it paid off. ’This Could Be Texas’ is a very complete album that should skyrocket this band between the likes of Wolf Alice, Wet Leg, and the other big indie breakthrough of 2024 The Last Dinner Party.