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\n\tWhen acclaimed producer\u00a0James Ford<\/a>, who\u2019s overseen every Arctic Monkeys<\/a> album since 2007\u2019s Favourite Worst Nightmare<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0found himself\u00a0undergoing cancer treatment<\/a>\u00a0in a London hospital last year, he says it was only natural that his mind would eventually drift back to music.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019d been in hospital feeling awful and the first moment that my energy came back a bit I realized I was in survival mode and I didn\u2019t really have any creative thoughts, which was terrifying in a way,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019m so used to making music every day and it\u2019s a real part of my self-worth and identity. All these things are wrapped up, and I regulate my mental health with music. So when my energy came back for the first time, it was the first thing I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIt was at this point that Ford\u2019s wife Sereen stepped in, bringing a simple recording set-up and an IKEA table to St. Bart\u2019s Hospital, which allowed him to record while being kept in isolation to protect his immune system during treatment for acute myeloid leukemia.<\/p>\n \n\tNow, the remarkable results of this process \u2014 written and recorded in just two weeks last year \u2013 emerge in Ford\u2019s new album\u00a0Lost in Another World<\/em>, due Aug. 14. Released under his full name, James Ellis Ford<\/a>, it\u2019s a remarkable record which, despite being recorded in the darkest of circumstances, feels like a call to embrace life in all its knotty glory.<\/p>\n \n\tYou can read our whole Q&A with Ford below.<\/p>\n \n\tYou\u2019ve announced a number of live shows for this album. Artists can find it daunting to present new material at the best of times, but I wondered if it\u2019s even harder when this is a deeply personal reflection on what you\u2019ve gone through over the last 18 months?<\/strong>
It\u2019s a mixed blessing, to be honest with you. I\u2019m proud of the album and I\u2019m glad it\u2019s getting out there, but it very much reminds me of one of the darker periods of my life. If I\u2019m entirely honest, I\u2019ve been doing a bunch of press and obviously relearning the songs and doing a few little rehearsals, and it\u2019s not the nicest feeling. I\u2019m talking about being ill a lot and it just takes me back there, it puts me back in that moment. It was [made] quickly and in that situation, so it\u2019s akin to looking at a photograph of it. It\u2019s fine, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s something I want to dwell on for too long.<\/p>\n