{"id":2031921,"date":"2026-07-07T16:05:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2031921"},"modified":"2026-07-07T16:05:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:05:34","slug":"james-ford-tells-us-about-writing-new-album-lost-in-another-world-while-in-hospital-receiving-treatment-for-leukemia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2031921","title":{"rendered":"James Ford tells us about writing new album \u2018Lost In Another World\u2019 while in hospital receiving treatment for leukemia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/James-Ellis-Ford-3351-pc-Dan-Wilton_2000.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"template-id-2749694\" class=\"post-2749694 tdb_templates type-tdb_templates status-publish post\">\n<div id=\"tdi_65\" class=\"tdc-zone\">\n<div class=\"tdc_zone tdi_66  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div id=\"tdi_67\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_68  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_70  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_breadcrumbs tdi_71 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-breadcrumbs \" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_71\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span>News<\/span><span>Music News<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_title tdi_72 tdb-single-title td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_72\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">James Ford tells us about writing new album \u2018Lost In Another World\u2019 while in hospital receiving treatment for leukemia<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_73 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_73\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>&#8220;This whole past year has been some of the worst moments of my life, but also some moments of transcendental beauty and gratitude for the blessings I have in my life&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_75 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_75\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span> Andrew Trendell<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_76 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_76\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-07-07T17:05:34+01:00\">7th July 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_77\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_78  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_80  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span8\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_81 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_81\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"696\" height=\"442\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/James-Ellis-Ford-3351-pc-Dan-Wilton_2000-696x442.jpg\" alt=\"James Ellis Ford. Credit: Dan Wilton\" title=\"James Ellis Ford. Credit: Dan Wilton\"><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">James Ellis Ford. Credit: Dan Wilton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"vc_row_inner tdi_83 article-content-row vc_row vc_inner wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_85  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"vc_column-inner\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>James Ford has spoken to <em>NME<\/em> about the profound process of putting together his new album \u2018Lost In Another World\u2019 while in hospital undergoing cancer treatment and chemotherapy. Check out our interview below along with lead single \u2018Overtones\u2019.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ MORE: James Ford talks us through the huge new War Child \u2018Help(2)\u2019 album \u2013 track-by-track<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Fresh from helming the recent star-studded War Child \u2018Help(2)\u2019 charity compilation album, the former Simian Mobile Disco star and producer of the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Blur, Pulp and Fontaines D.C. will be releasing his second solo LP \u2013 and the first under his full name of James Ellis Ford \u2013 on August 14 via Domino.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Just like much of his work on \u2018Help(2)\u2019, \u2018Lost In Another World\u2019 was made while Ford was on a ward at Barts Hospital going through rounds of chemotherapy after his diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive cancer of the white blood cells. The whole album was written and recorded in just over two weeks in early 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The first taster comes with the psychedelic lead single \u2018Overtones\u2019. \u201cThe otherworldliness of it all is summed up quite well in this tune,\u201d Ford told <em>NME<\/em>. \u201cIt feels like it\u2019s leading you in to the world I found myself in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole album was done in quite a short period, smack bang in the middle of when I was having chemo. I was having to be isolated in a little room on my own, which was quite a lonely and discombobulating experience. It\u2019s quite hard to describe.\u201d<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"James Ellis Ford - Overtones (Official Visualiser)\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CUQ864laBKg?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>Check out our full interview with Ford below, where he tells us about facing his mortality, the wonder of the NHS, and plans to play the album live.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong><em>NME<\/em>: Hello James. Big question, but what can you tell us about the mental and physical state you were in during this process? How do you handle that and then manage to get creative?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>James Ellis Ford:<\/strong> \u201cYou never think something this serious is going to happen to you, at least I didn\u2019t at this part of my life \u2013 I always felt pretty invincible. Then suddenly, it comes out of the blue and you\u2019re faced with the fact that you might die! It\u2019s quite an intense experience, as you might imagine. I had quite a lot of new things to process, new emotions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter each round of chemo you go through a period called neutropenia where you don\u2019t have an immune system. You have to be kept like a boy in the bubble away from any bugs. It was sort of like a prison sentence. You\u2019re in this strange room on your own, everything is white and it feels a bit like you\u2019re in that room at the end of <em>2001: A Space Odyssey<\/em> \u2013 an <em>Uncanny Valley<\/em> version of life as you used to know it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been very lucky that I get to make music every day and I have done my whole life since I was a teenager. This was probably the longest period when I hadn\u2019t been doing that. I was in bed and you can barely move, do anything or have any creative thoughts. This moment was the first time that a bit of energy came back. I just had an unshakable urge to do something and to connect myself back to a version of myself that I used to know.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI got my wife to bring in a laptop and a microphone, I started sketching some ideas. All of a sudden I just got into this little tunnel and made the whole record in a couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3829994\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3829994\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3829994\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/James-Ford-performing.jpg\" alt=\"James Ellis Ford performs in concert during day 3 of Primavera Sound Madrid 2023 on June 10, 2023 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Mariano Regidor\/Redferns)\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3829994\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">James Ellis Ford performs in concert during day 3 of Primavera Sound Madrid 2023 on June 10, 2023 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Mariano Regidor\/Redferns)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>With those first sketches of songs, what were you instinctually making?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re in that vulnerable position of being ill, you lose all physical barriers and all that sort of stuff because people are just coming in and jabbing stuff in you. In that way, I felt like all of my filters and all that stuff were just non-existent. I just sat down and wrote without trying to shroud any of it in any kind of poetry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was just literally singing what was in my mind, almost in a journal, diary-writing way. Looking back now, it was almost too on-the-nose. It almost makes me wince a bit. I was quite happy that it\u2019s coming out, because it\u2019s quite a pure photograph of that period of my life, what I was thinking and what I was going through.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of the tunes are me trying to process the existential dread and also trying to cheer myself up with pep talks and telling myself that this is going to be OK. There are also some love letters to my little boy and my wife, and it\u2019s very personal in a way that kind of makes me feel uncomfortable now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Listening back now, what do these songs tell us about that journey?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis first track is just about me trying to sum up this feeling of being detached from reality. It was weirdly a chemo-induced dream where I could hear this otherworldly music of the spheres and was getting an insight into something beyond this realm. I was just trying to sum up this slightly hollow feeling that waking up from that dream left me with.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the rest of the album, there are very specific things like a day I had out with my little boy and just realising how important the little things are like trees, nature and those little moments. I was apologising for not being there and not knowing how many of those moments we\u2019d get in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3955375\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3955375\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3955375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/JAMES-FORD-BLUR.jpg\" alt=\" Blur with James Ford at the Nordoff and Robbins O2 Silver Clef Awards 2024 (Photo by Dave Benett\/Getty Images)\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3955375\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Blur with James Ford at the Nordoff and Robbins O2 Silver Clef Awards 2024 (Photo by Dave Benett\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Are there any songs in particular that profoundly speak to that?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a song with a pretty heavy-sounding title that was meant to be more funny, but it\u2019s called \u2018Did You Ever Want To Go To Your Own Funeral?\u2019 I was fairly public about being ill and was inundated in a really positive way with lots of messages of love and support from family and friends, as well as the wider community and people I\u2019d lost touch with.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a very beautifully positive thing, and it was wonderful to feel that love coming from people. It reminded me of when you go to a funeral and someone says, \u2018He would have loved this, it\u2019s a shame he\u2019s not here\u2019. I could peer through a crack in the door and witness that happening for myself in the strangest way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a wonderful feeling, and not one that you\u2019d get in any other circumstance. This whole past year has been some of the worst moments of my life, but also some moments of transcendental beauty and gratitude for the blessings I have in my life as well. It\u2019s a very weird thing to process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>How has all this changed the way you want to live your life and want to see the world?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s massively changed the way I feel about life. I feel more alive and viscerally connected to being alive and what that means than I ever have. There are definitely moments when you coast through life and you aren\u2019t really tuned in to what\u2019s important, and I feel like this whole experience has focussed me back on to the important things. As you get further away from that moment, you start to see some of that slipping away and you get a little wound up in day-to-day shit or worrying about this thing or the other, but the clarity it gave me is something I\u2019m trying to hold on to and to the way it made me feel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of them are quite simple lessons about gratitude for the simple things in life. They sound like Instagram-y statements, but when you go through it it\u2019s a really profound lesson. It\u2019s akin to the feeling you get after a heavy psychedelic trip or something like that. You can see through the mush to what\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3955373\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3955373\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3955373\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/James_Ellis_Ford_-_Lost_In_Another_World_-_Packshot_WIG572D.jpg\" alt=\"James Ellis Ford \u2013 &apos;Lost In Another World&apos;\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3955373\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">James Ellis Ford \u2013 \u2018Lost In Another World\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Obviously this is very personal to you, but is there something in here that people going through something similar can take from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI definitely had a few people who were going through or had recently been through some similar things who kind of mentored me through it a little bit. I\u2019m very grateful for those people. It\u2019s a huge rollercoaster from moment to moment of results and waiting for what could happen while dealing with all those myriad options and not freaking out or mentally descending into the abyss!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeeing that other people had been through it or gone through it was hugely helpful for me. If anyone sees me going through it and an take something positive from it, then that\u2019s a win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>You shared how nurses were regularly coming and going to take blood samples and check on you as you were putting down takes?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think many people have tried to record an album from the hospital before, so they were quite bemused and amused by it. Quite often they\u2019d see me singing with my headphones on and they\u2019d creep in and try and my take blood pressure while trying not to disturb me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have to say with all the talk about immigration and the NHS, the NHS was absolutely fucking amazing, and probably about 80 per cent of the people who looked after me were immigrants and the best of us. They were absolutely wonderful, caring people who saved my life on a daily basis so it\u2019s important to remember that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are there any collabs on the album with doctors and nurses?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are probably a few people in there that could have done some backing vocals, but I didn\u2019t manage to broach that subject really! To be honest, I was just making it for myself to just cheer myself up. I wasn\u2019t necessarily even going to put it out, but it just developed and came together more completely and quicker than I expected. I was just sketching. I wasn\u2019t really thinking about collabs, but they all featured in a way. All of the people who looked after me were part of it. There were a lot of weird bleeping machines and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey creep onto the record and I did consider using them, because they are quite interesting sounds. You\u2019ll have a few machines making the same noise but they\u2019ll all be out of sync and make this kind of quite interesting, almost electronic tapestry. But by the end, those sounds become so nightmarish and annoying that I ended up having to delete them all from the record because they just took me to a bad place.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3955374\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3955374\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3955374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/james-ford-simian.jpg\" alt=\"Jas Shaw and James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco at Field Day Festival 2014 (Photo by Andy Sheppard\/Redferns via Getty Images)\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3955374\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jas Shaw and James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco at Field Day Festival 2014 (Photo by Andy Sheppard\/Redferns via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>What can you tell us about plans to play this album live?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a stage where I\u2019m not fully out of it, healthwise. There\u2019s still a chance it could relapse. That being said, my treatment is over for the time being. I\u2019m absolutely trying to move on with my life. Talking about this record and actually listening to it and trying to get it together [to play] live actually takes me back to one of the darker periods of my life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a little re-traumatising, if I\u2019m honest! It\u2019s not something that I am hugely enjoying. I am getting together a live show to do a few things, but I am going to have to see how it goes, quite honestly. It might be really unpleasant for me, or I might quite enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is there anything else you\u2019ve been working on that you\u2019re able to tell us about? any records in the can with any legends we can expect soon?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would love to tell you. There\u2019s definitely some really exciting stuff coming down the pipes, but I\u2019ve got in so much trouble in the past for pre-empting stuff that comes out. I remember I said something quite in passing about the Blur record [\u2018The Ballad Of Darren\u2019] when I was working on that, then someone took something off the record and it blew up into this thing. I\u2019m a few times bitten and shy for talking about things before they\u2019ve been announced, but there are definitely some exciting new things on the cards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Lost In Another World\u2019 arrives on Friday August 14 via Domino and is available for pre-order here. He\u2019ll also be performing at Green Man Festival in Wales on Saturday August 22 and a headline show at the Horse Hospital in London on Thursday September 17. Visit here for tickets and more information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_tags tdi_87 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_87\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<ul class=\"tdb-tags\">\n<li><span>Related Topics<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Indie<\/li>\n<li>James Ford<\/li>\n<li>Simian Mobile Disco<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_89 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>You May Also Like<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_91  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span4 td-is-sticky\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-a-rec td-a-rec-id-sidebar  tdi_92 td_block_template_2\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap td_flex_block_1 tdi_93 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdc-no-posts td_flex_block\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_93\">\n<div class=\"td-block-title-wrap\">\n<h4 class=\"td-block-title\"><span class=\"td-pulldown-size\">TRENDING<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_93\" class=\"td_block_inner td-mc1-wrap\">\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Step right up! 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Sons bring out surprise guests Shania Twain and Hozier at BST Hyde Park<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><\/article>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>James Ford has spoken to <em>NME<\/em> about the profound process of putting together his new album \u2018Lost In Another World\u2019 while in hospital undergoing cancer treatment and chemotherapy. Check out our interview below along with lead single \u2018Overtones\u2019.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ MORE: James Ford talks us through the huge new War Child \u2018Help(2)\u2019 album \u2013 track-by-track<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Fresh from helming the recent star-studded War Child \u2018Help(2)\u2019 charity compilation album, the former Simian Mobile Disco star and producer of the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Blur, Pulp and Fontaines D.C. will be releasing his second solo LP \u2013 and the first under his full name of James Ellis Ford \u2013 on August 14 via Domino.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Just like much of his work on \u2018Help(2)\u2019, \u2018Lost In Another World\u2019 was made while Ford was on a ward at Barts Hospital going through rounds of chemotherapy after his diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive cancer of the white blood cells. The whole album was written and recorded in just over two weeks in early 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The first taster comes with the psychedelic lead single \u2018Overtones\u2019. \u201cThe otherworldliness of it all is summed up quite well in this tune,\u201d Ford told <em>NME<\/em>. \u201cIt feels like it\u2019s leading you in to the world I found myself in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole album was done in quite a short period, smack bang in the middle of when I was having chemo. I was having to be isolated in a little room on my own, which was quite a lonely and discombobulating experience. It\u2019s quite hard to describe.\u201d<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"James Ellis Ford - Overtones (Official Visualiser)\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CUQ864laBKg?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>Check out our full interview with Ford below, where he tells us about facing his mortality, the wonder of the NHS, and plans to play the album live.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong><em>NME<\/em>: Hello James. Big question, but what can you tell us about the mental and physical state you were in during this process? How do you handle that and then manage to get creative?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>James Ellis Ford:<\/strong> \u201cYou never think something this serious is going to happen to you, at least I didn\u2019t at this part of my life \u2013 I always felt pretty invincible. Then suddenly, it comes out of the blue and you\u2019re faced with the fact that you might die! It\u2019s quite an intense experience, as you might imagine. I had quite a lot of new things to process, new emotions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter each round of chemo you go through a period called neutropenia where you don\u2019t have an immune system. You have to be kept like a boy in the bubble away from any bugs. It was sort of like a prison sentence. You\u2019re in this strange room on your own, everything is white and it feels a bit like you\u2019re in that room at the end of <em>2001: A Space Odyssey<\/em> \u2013 an <em>Uncanny Valley<\/em> version of life as you used to know it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been very lucky that I get to make music every day and I have done my whole life since I was a teenager. This was probably the longest period when I hadn\u2019t been doing that. I was in bed and you can barely move, do anything or have any creative thoughts. This moment was the first time that a bit of energy came back. I just had an unshakable urge to do something and to connect myself back to a version of myself that I used to know.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI got my wife to bring in a laptop and a microphone, I started sketching some ideas. All of a sudden I just got into this little tunnel and made the whole record in a couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3829994\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3829994\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3829994\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/James-Ford-performing.jpg\" alt=\"James Ellis Ford performs in concert during day 3 of Primavera Sound Madrid 2023 on June 10, 2023 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Mariano Regidor\/Redferns)\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3829994\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">James Ellis Ford performs in concert during day 3 of Primavera Sound Madrid 2023 on June 10, 2023 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Mariano Regidor\/Redferns)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>With those first sketches of songs, what were you instinctually making?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re in that vulnerable position of being ill, you lose all physical barriers and all that sort of stuff because people are just coming in and jabbing stuff in you. In that way, I felt like all of my filters and all that stuff were just non-existent. I just sat down and wrote without trying to shroud any of it in any kind of poetry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was just literally singing what was in my mind, almost in a journal, diary-writing way. Looking back now, it was almost too on-the-nose. It almost makes me wince a bit. I was quite happy that it\u2019s coming out, because it\u2019s quite a pure photograph of that period of my life, what I was thinking and what I was going through.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of the tunes are me trying to process the existential dread and also trying to cheer myself up with pep talks and telling myself that this is going to be OK. There are also some love letters to my little boy and my wife, and it\u2019s very personal in a way that kind of makes me feel uncomfortable now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Listening back now, what do these songs tell us about that journey?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis first track is just about me trying to sum up this feeling of being detached from reality. It was weirdly a chemo-induced dream where I could hear this otherworldly music of the spheres and was getting an insight into something beyond this realm. I was just trying to sum up this slightly hollow feeling that waking up from that dream left me with.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the rest of the album, there are very specific things like a day I had out with my little boy and just realising how important the little things are like trees, nature and those little moments. I was apologising for not being there and not knowing how many of those moments we\u2019d get in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3955375\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3955375\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3955375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/JAMES-FORD-BLUR.jpg\" alt=\" Blur with James Ford at the Nordoff and Robbins O2 Silver Clef Awards 2024 (Photo by Dave Benett\/Getty Images)\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3955375\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Blur with James Ford at the Nordoff and Robbins O2 Silver Clef Awards 2024 (Photo by Dave Benett\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Are there any songs in particular that profoundly speak to that?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a song with a pretty heavy-sounding title that was meant to be more funny, but it\u2019s called \u2018Did You Ever Want To Go To Your Own Funeral?\u2019 I was fairly public about being ill and was inundated in a really positive way with lots of messages of love and support from family and friends, as well as the wider community and people I\u2019d lost touch with.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a very beautifully positive thing, and it was wonderful to feel that love coming from people. It reminded me of when you go to a funeral and someone says, \u2018He would have loved this, it\u2019s a shame he\u2019s not here\u2019. I could peer through a crack in the door and witness that happening for myself in the strangest way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a wonderful feeling, and not one that you\u2019d get in any other circumstance. This whole past year has been some of the worst moments of my life, but also some moments of transcendental beauty and gratitude for the blessings I have in my life as well. It\u2019s a very weird thing to process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>How has all this changed the way you want to live your life and want to see the world?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s massively changed the way I feel about life. I feel more alive and viscerally connected to being alive and what that means than I ever have. There are definitely moments when you coast through life and you aren\u2019t really tuned in to what\u2019s important, and I feel like this whole experience has focussed me back on to the important things. As you get further away from that moment, you start to see some of that slipping away and you get a little wound up in day-to-day shit or worrying about this thing or the other, but the clarity it gave me is something I\u2019m trying to hold on to and to the way it made me feel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of them are quite simple lessons about gratitude for the simple things in life. They sound like Instagram-y statements, but when you go through it it\u2019s a really profound lesson. It\u2019s akin to the feeling you get after a heavy psychedelic trip or something like that. You can see through the mush to what\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3955373\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3955373\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3955373\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/James_Ellis_Ford_-_Lost_In_Another_World_-_Packshot_WIG572D.jpg\" alt=\"James Ellis Ford \u2013 &apos;Lost In Another World&apos;\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3955373\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">James Ellis Ford \u2013 \u2018Lost In Another World\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Obviously this is very personal to you, but is there something in here that people going through something similar can take from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI definitely had a few people who were going through or had recently been through some similar things who kind of mentored me through it a little bit. I\u2019m very grateful for those people. It\u2019s a huge rollercoaster from moment to moment of results and waiting for what could happen while dealing with all those myriad options and not freaking out or mentally descending into the abyss!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeeing that other people had been through it or gone through it was hugely helpful for me. If anyone sees me going through it and an take something positive from it, then that\u2019s a win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>You shared how nurses were regularly coming and going to take blood samples and check on you as you were putting down takes?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think many people have tried to record an album from the hospital before, so they were quite bemused and amused by it. Quite often they\u2019d see me singing with my headphones on and they\u2019d creep in and try and my take blood pressure while trying not to disturb me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have to say with all the talk about immigration and the NHS, the NHS was absolutely fucking amazing, and probably about 80 per cent of the people who looked after me were immigrants and the best of us. They were absolutely wonderful, caring people who saved my life on a daily basis so it\u2019s important to remember that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are there any collabs on the album with doctors and nurses?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are probably a few people in there that could have done some backing vocals, but I didn\u2019t manage to broach that subject really! To be honest, I was just making it for myself to just cheer myself up. I wasn\u2019t necessarily even going to put it out, but it just developed and came together more completely and quicker than I expected. I was just sketching. I wasn\u2019t really thinking about collabs, but they all featured in a way. All of the people who looked after me were part of it. There were a lot of weird bleeping machines and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey creep onto the record and I did consider using them, because they are quite interesting sounds. You\u2019ll have a few machines making the same noise but they\u2019ll all be out of sync and make this kind of quite interesting, almost electronic tapestry. But by the end, those sounds become so nightmarish and annoying that I ended up having to delete them all from the record because they just took me to a bad place.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3955374\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3955374\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3955374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/james-ford-simian.jpg\" alt=\"Jas Shaw and James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco at Field Day Festival 2014 (Photo by Andy Sheppard\/Redferns via Getty Images)\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3955374\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jas Shaw and James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco at Field Day Festival 2014 (Photo by Andy Sheppard\/Redferns via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>What can you tell us about plans to play this album live?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a stage where I\u2019m not fully out of it, healthwise. There\u2019s still a chance it could relapse. That being said, my treatment is over for the time being. I\u2019m absolutely trying to move on with my life. Talking about this record and actually listening to it and trying to get it together [to play] live actually takes me back to one of the darker periods of my life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a little re-traumatising, if I\u2019m honest! It\u2019s not something that I am hugely enjoying. I am getting together a live show to do a few things, but I am going to have to see how it goes, quite honestly. It might be really unpleasant for me, or I might quite enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is there anything else you\u2019ve been working on that you\u2019re able to tell us about? any records in the can with any legends we can expect soon?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would love to tell you. There\u2019s definitely some really exciting stuff coming down the pipes, but I\u2019ve got in so much trouble in the past for pre-empting stuff that comes out. I remember I said something quite in passing about the Blur record [\u2018The Ballad Of Darren\u2019] when I was working on that, then someone took something off the record and it blew up into this thing. I\u2019m a few times bitten and shy for talking about things before they\u2019ve been announced, but there are definitely some exciting new things on the cards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Lost In Another World\u2019 arrives on Friday August 14 via Domino and is available for pre-order here. He\u2019ll also be performing at Green Man Festival in Wales on Saturday August 22 and a headline show at the Horse Hospital in London on Thursday September 17. Visit here for tickets and more information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/james-ford-interview-lost-in-another-world-new-album-cancer-treatment-3955371&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/James-Ellis-Ford-3351-pc-Dan-Wilton_2000.jpg&#8221;] NewsMusic News James Ford tells us about writing new album \u2018Lost In Another World\u2019 while in hospital receiving treatment for leukemia &#8220;This whole past year has been some of the worst moments of my life, but also some moments of transcendental beauty and gratitude for the blessings I have in my life&#8221; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,78],"class_list":["post-2031921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nme-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2031921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2031921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2031921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2031921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}