After building a home studio the SMD musician and Arctic Monkeys and Depeche Mode producer James Ford picked up no less than 18 instruments – and a microphone – in order to make his beguiling debut LP. Words by Jeremy Allen. All portraits by Pip Bourdillon
The Ballad Of Darren
In a year that has already seen the releases of a Gorillaz album, a solo record from Dave Rowntree, and the debut from Graham Coxon’s the Waeve, a new Blur album was an unlikely addition to the docket. With so many outlets for their work, what creative impulse drives their ninth album?