James Ellis Ford

James Ellis Ford is a songwriter, producer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist with a storied history in the music business as well as output as a solo artist. He co-founded both Simian Mobile Disco and the Last Shadow Puppets, and spent much of the 2000s and 2010s making music with those projects as well as working as a producer for a range of artists including everyone from Shame to Depeche Mode. Ford signed on with Warp Records for the release of 2023's The Hum, his first album of completely solo material. Ford was born in the English town of Leek in 1978. He attended Manchester University, and it was there that he met the friends with whom he would form psychedelic pop band Simian in 2000. In 2003, Ford and bandmate Jas Shaw started Simian Mobile Disco, a side project originally intended to be a DJ duo active concurrently with their live group. Soon, however, Simian Mobile Disco began to outshine Simian, gaining attention for their remixes and more electronic-leaning original tracks. As Simian Mobile Disco was taking off, Ford's work as a producer was also gaining momentum. Throughout the early 2000s, he produced albums for Test Icicles, Klaxons, Arctic Monkeys, and many others. In 2008 he founded the Last Shadow Puppets, working as both drummer and producer for the band. Ford continued juggling production work along with his own projects for many years to come, putting his stylistic touch on songs and albums from Haim, Jessie Ware, Gorillaz, Florence + the Machine, Depeche Mode, Matthew Dear, Shame, Foals, Kylie Minogue, and many others. In 2023, with both the Last Shadow Puppets and Simian Mobile Disco long on hiatus, Ford created his first album of original solo music. Released through mainstay electronic label Warp Records, The Hum was a collection of genre-hopping songs in which Ford wrote, played, sang, programmed, and produced everything.
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