Mercury Prize 2024 winner: English Teacher's This Could Be Texas scoops Album of the Year
Leeds band English Teacher have won the 2024 Mercury Prize for their debut album This Could Be Texas.
The group, comprising lead vocalist Lily Fontaine, guitarist Lewis Whiting, drummer Douglas Frost, and bassist Nicholas Eden, beat off stiff competition from the likes of Charli xcx's BRAT, Barry Can't Swim's When Will We Land? and Ghetts' On Purpose, With Purpose to take this year's £25,000 prize.
MORE: Every Mercury Prize winner ever
Accepting the prize at London's iconic Abbey Road Studios, vocalist Lily Fontaine thanked her mum, who also designed the LP's artwork, and said the band owed their career to the support they'd received from local Leeds venues such as Brudenell Social Club and Hyde Park Book Club.
"If you look back over music from this country, Yorkshire in particular has thrown out some of our most prolific songwriters.
"There's real support for musicians in Leeds at the moment.
"Venues are willing to take on new artists and I think that's integral to the health of the scene."
Judges praised This Could Be Texas's "winning lyrical mix of surrealism and social observation," recognising its "subtle way of wearing its musical innovations lightly."
They continued: "This Could Be Texas reveals new depths on every listen - the mark of a future classic."
The record peaked at Number 8 on the Official Albums Chart on its release in April, also debuting at Number 2 on the Official Vinyl Albums Chart and Official Record Store Charts that same month.
Mercury Prize 2024 shortlist: the full list of albums
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Barry Can't Swim - When Will We Land?
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BERWYN - Who Am I
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Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown
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Cat Burns - early twenties
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Charli xcx - BRAT
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CMAT - Crazymad, for Me
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Corinne Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows
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corto.alto - Bad with Names
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English Teacher - This Could Be Texas - WINNER
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Ghetts - On Purpose, With Purpose
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Nia Archives - Silence Is Loud
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The Last Dinner Party - Prelude to Ecstasy
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itsnoodleszn_
that is AMAZING for english teacher. the album’s one of my many favourites of the year.