English Teacher – Mastermind Specialism Review

Ones to watch, indeed. For those who still claw at the TV screens, whose sets still have nobs on the front to change the channel, Jools Holland may have tipped you onto English Teacher. More praise should be heaped onto Holland, the last great music-adjacent personality TV can offer. He is steadfast in his abilities as a pianist but also uses this keen ear to identify the next waves of culture. Be it The Last Dinner Party or the setting he presented in a dilapidated structure for Arctic Monkeys ahead of The Car, he and his team show utter class when recommending or featuring artists. English Teacher is no exception to this rule and Mastermind Specialism confirms it.  

Expectedly melancholic and testing the waters once more of what English Teacher feel is appropriate for their particular image, the whining cries which underscore the off-kilter acoustics are a nice touch. They scream of bad decisions for a listener, a somewhat creeping feel which warms as Lily Fontaine demonstrates a love and hate for the flailing, failing years. Nothing to stand for or by, this sense of accepted worthlessness as being defined by nothing particular. It either strikes as a strong place to find yourself – in the engulfing fog of no belief system or an attitude against the world which rots from within the more it is held to. Mastermind Specialism is a tremendous piece not just for its slower pace and slow teases of building to something which never comes, but for its sharp and articulate writing. 

For those on the English Teacher train this style should be of no surprise. Mastermind Specialism is another slice of what the band does best – surpassing expectations. Fontaine and company find themselves in the right spot. They are finding tones and sharp aversions to the world around them worth adapting to and bringing them through, with enough changes to their instrumental efforts and pacing, but holding firm with a great and core work worth championing. Pair it with other offerings Nearly Daffodils and The World’s Biggest Paving Slab and it is hard to decry English Teacher as anything but brilliant. But back to this new offering, or new at the time of writing and old in the new year when it is published. Mastermind Specialism is more signs of life from a band worth keeping an eye or two on. 

Tune in to the Hootenanny Man, then. He is still alive and kicking about with Rod Stewart. He is also introducing disgruntled generations to the music which will live longer than them. Mastermind Specialism is a kick to the head for those who need it, a rewarding bit of blunt force trauma in musical form. Thank Holland for his services to music, and his continued desire to highlight the big and bold bands of the UK and beyond as often as he can. He is the last bastion of hope in a country still attached to Queen and Oasis, despite both defunct bands holding as much worth to them as the wrapper around a Twix. Real music is where it is at. Cast aside the dreck. Get English Teacher listened to. It is more than you did at school, and therefore a start on the right track they said you would never go down.