Our 2023 Annual Report continues with the announcement of James Ford has been named our Producer of the Year. As the year winds down, keep it locked on Consequence for more awards, lists, and articles about the best music, film, and TV of 2023. Check out all our Annual Report content here. You can also listen to this full interview as part of the Consequence UNCUT podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts or via the player below.
James Ford made a name for himself by refusing to be pinned down. The British producer may have commanded audiences for years as a member of Simian Mobile Disco, but his efforts span far beyond the hi-fi romps of dance music. In the last two decades, Ford has helmed albums from Arctic Monkeys and Gorillaz, worked on beloved tracks from HAIM and Florence + the Machine, and nabbed 10 Mercury Prize nominations — two of which came this very year.
2023 was as big a year as James Ford has ever had. In addition to the release of his first solo LP, The Hum, Ford produced Jessie Ware’s That! Feels Good!, Geese’s 3D Country, Depeche Mode’s Memento Mori, the self-titled debut from Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall’s The WAEVE, and Blur’s first album in eight years, The Ballad of Darren. Not only that, he worked with breakout newcomers The Last Dinner Party and Fat Dog.
Though much of Ford’s actual production work on these efforts took place over the prior two years, having all of them arrive within a six month span highlighted the producer’s versatility. Each are disparate in style, but all share crisp instrumentals, sticky melodies, and a widescreen flare. He’s also no stranger to incorporating left turns and journeying with these artists into unknown territory, as demonstrated by his expansive work on Arctic Monkeys’ last two LPs.
The role of a producer is not merely to press record; there are band dynamics, label and manager demands, and the pressures of repeated success at play. Each of Ford’s 2023 albums had added contextual challenges that make his resulting efforts all the more rewarding. For Ware’s That! Feels Good!, that meant creating something more effervescent, dynamic, and extroverted than any of her previous works — a grand re-entry as one of pop music’s premiere vocalists.
Over a video call, the ever-humble Ford tells Consequence that Ware is a “longtime friend,” having worked on each of her albums since her 2014 sophomore LP, Tough Love. With such strong rapport already, it would have been easy for them rehash the disco-centric themes of her last album, What’s Your Pleasure? Instead, both Ware and Ford wanted to turn the dial up even louder, embrace live performance, and make sure that her “killer” voice was heard.
“She’s found her voice kind of late in her career, which is a great thing to see,” says Ford.
Helping give that voice a fresh stage, Ford crafted the album predominately in his Hackney studio before recording the brass and string arrangements elsewhere. Leaning on the analog flair of live disco-pop, where you can feel the physical performance of these songs, was a difficult task for a producer who largely used digital production to create similar sonics in the past. But as a member of Simian Mobile Disco, he’s certainly familiar with the kind of live-wire, hedonistic air of late ’70s disco, Chic, and Studio 54 that characterizes That! Feels Good!.
“I’ve spent many years DJing and I’m a huge fan of old school disco, house, techno, and the roots of dance music as we know it. So for me, it was really quite an indulgence to be able to sort of lean back on those references,” Ford says.
Helping a mid-career artist find a new sound is one thing, but what about a reunited band with a complex 30-plus year history? Ford notes that Blur’s The Ballad of Darren isn’t just their first new album in eight years, but the first time they’ve recorded together in the same room in even longer.
Though there are some harmonious songs on Ballad, Ford was nervous that in-group friction made for “a risky project”: “There’s a lot of water under the bridge there and things that have happened in the past. And I really wasn’t sure how it would go.” Ford says his strategy was to keep everything “fluid” and make sure the energy and pace of the sessions were high. After a little bit of early tension, Ford claims the process became relaxed and enjoyable.
“Alex [James] and Dave [Rowntree] are great players and really slot into their roles. Obviously, Damon’s songwriting is amazing. But then something about the way Graham comes in at a sort of obtuse angle just turns it into Blur,” says Ford. “Some of the demos sounded a little Gorillaz-y — it was like, ‘Oh, is this gonna work for Blur?’ And then Graham comes in and makes some crazy noises on it… It’s the way the parts fit together, and it was wonderful to see, especially as a fan.”
