James Ellis Ford - Lost In Another World
A hypnotizing sonic voyage rooted deeply in humanity.
Even those who aren’t familiar with James Ellis Ford’s name have most likely heard something he has worked on. The English musician has produced music for dozens of acts across genres and eras from Arctic Monkeys, Blur and Gorillaz to Geese, Fontaines DC and The Last Dinner Party among others. In recent years, Ford has also branched out into his own solo music – the latest from which is his second studio album, Lost in Another World.
The easiest way to present this album is to say that it perfectly matches its title. Everything on this record is centered, first and foremost, around the dark, vast ambience that knocks it out of the park when it comes to creating that sensation of being stranded in the middle of a deep, all-consuming cosmic void. When compared to Ford’s debut solo record, The Hum, this project comes off much more self-assured and focused; where that album was made up of mostly just loosely sonically similar ambient music, with half of the tracks being instrumentals, this one feels much more concentrated on building a whole, cohesive world with its soundscape and feel – and it absolutely succeeds.
That success, of course, wouldn’t be possible without Ford’s top-notch production throughout the record. His synth work is particularly impressive throughout, though the best instrumental section is arguably the string intro in “I Believe In You”, one of the main highlights of the project. James Ellis Ford’s vocals are also processed and mixed to fit in perfectly – the slightly distant and reverberating quality that they have, along with Ford’s rich vocal timbre, contribute significantly to the album’s somewhat eerie feel.
The subject matter of the record also contributes greatly to its impact – this project was made in hospital while Ford was being treated for blood cancer, and thus tackles a lot of what he thought, felt and experienced during that incredibly difficult stage of his life. This results in the lyricism being very raw and sometimes worded in somewhat straightforward ways, but that immediacy only makes it connect that much more with the listener. The context absolutely adds to the album experience, turning it from just a beautiful body of musical work into a gripping narration of the inner world of a man unsure if his life is almost over. Even the lighter, more upbeat moments among the overall darker picture don’t interrupt, feeling instead like attempts to salvage some hope from the overall existential dread of the situation and making the record feel even more profoundly vulnerable and human.
The aforementioned mesmerizing atmosphere of the album especially amps up from the fourth track, “Here Today”, which is one of the best tracks on the record, and continues to build up to the closer, “This Will All Be A Memory Soon”. The latter half of that track’s nearly seven-minute duration is taken up by nothing but reverberating ambient instrumentation slowly, gradually fading away, bringing a perfect end to the record’s journey.
Lost in Another World is an excellent listen, a deeply enthralling project with stellar production and a very compelling, brilliantly built up atmosphere and story. It’s a big step up from James Ellis Ford’s previous project musically, and feels much more like him properly coming into his own as a solo artist, in spite of all the struggles in his life at the time of its creation.
8.0/10
