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.
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.