Producer James Ford has spoken to NME to provide an exclusive track-by-track guide to War Child’s star-studded new ‘Help(2)’ album, featuring Arctic Monkeys, Fontaines D.C., Wet Leg, Young Fathers, English Teacher, Pulp, Damon Albarn and many more.
Arriving tomorrow (Friday March 6), the new releases acts as a follow-up to and was inspired by the landmark 1995 ‘Help’ record for War Child. The original and legendary Brian Eno-led compilation featured the likes of Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, Orbital, Portishead, Massive Attack, Suede, Sinéad O’Connor, and Manic Street Preachers, raising over £1.25million and selling more 700,000 copies. This was followed by further charity records including 2002’s ‘1 Love’, 2003’s ‘Hope’, 2005’s ‘Help!: A Day In The Life’ and 2009’s ‘War Child Presents Heroes’.
For over 30 years, War Child has provided essential work to protect, educate, and support the mental health of children affected by war. ‘Help(2)’ comes at an extreme crisis point, with conflicts in Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, Syria and beyond.
Produced and stewarded by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, Florence + The Machine, Blur, Pet Shop Boys) ‘Help(2)’ was recorded through “a close collaboration with Abbey Road Studios” mostly during one week in November 2025. This was all done as Ford continued to battle leukaemia.
“War Child approached me about doing a follow-up to ‘Help’ before I got sick at the end of 2024,” he told NME. “The 30-year anniversary was looming. I’ve always been a fan of theirs, and I was a huge fan of the first record. It was a real cultural moment when it came out so I was excited to help them put out another one.
“My health then took a turn for the worse, and the whole thing got put on hold. I thought they might have gone somewhere else but they’ve waited for me to go through the whole of my treatment.”
War Child’s new ‘Help(2)’ album. Credit: Press
After picking up the conversation with War Child last summer, Ford teamed up with Transgressive Records boss Toby L, who helped with day-to-day operations at Abbey Road and A&R decisions as he worked as creative project leader. Together, they “started reaching out to managers and calling in all the favours we could”, while also wanting to branch out to more US artists this time, such as Geese frontman Cameron Winter and Olivia Rodrigo.
“What ended up on the album were the people that could turn around a song in the limited amount of time we had,” Ford explained. “We’re proud of the result. We think it holds together as a record that flows. The artists are a pretty good reflection of our current British and Irish music scene, as well as some great American names.”
Still, Ford said that despite the influx of artists who wanted to add to the ‘Help’ legacy and make a difference to the lives of children suffering through war, a number of acts they approached didn’t want to be part of it as they felt it was “too political”.
“Everything feels very scary and politicised at the minute, but helping children in war zones is a fairly apolitical and uncontroversial thing,” he told us. “Still, there were a few people who thought it was a little too political, which kind of baffles me a bit.”
Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker with the all-child camera crew at the making of War Child’s new ‘Help(2)’ album. Credit: Lawrence Watson
One band to really grab music fans’ attention were Arctic Monkeys, who had not released any new music since 2022’s ‘The Car’ and have caused much speculation online as to their future. Asked if their lead single track ‘Opening Night’ could be their swan song, Ford replied: “No comment! They’re all still great mates and they may do something again, but there’s nothing on the cards right now.”
To get the lowdown on the full album, read on below as producer Ford talks us through the origins and making of each song on ‘Help(2)’ track-by-track, and how history came to be made once again with the best acts of today.
Arctic Monkeys – ‘Opening Night’
“Al[ex Turner], along with Fontaines D.C., was probably one of the first people I approached. For obvious reasons, I’ve got a longstanding working relationship with those guys. It was kind of a big ask because the Monkeys are not touring at the moment or in the studio, and they didn’t particularly have any plans to be. They all live in different parts of the world these days, but they really pulled out all the stops to be a part of it.
Arctic Monkeys credit: Phoebe Fox
“Al had the demo of a song that was written around the time of [2013 album] ‘AM’, actually. The chorus lyric and chorus music were from that era. He said he always thought that there was something in it, but it never really went anywhere. We batted around that idea. He wanted to write a new verse, I talked him into writing a new middle eight.
READ MORE: Is ‘Opening Night’ a curtain call for Arctic Monkeys? It’s a beautiful gift either way
“He’s got his own little studio setup and he put that little drum machine in the intro just to keep him in time. I loved the way it sounded with that shonky acoustic guitar. The idea was for it to start quite lo-fi and then build into the full band thing.
“The main track was recorded at Abbey Road during the main session, but my health took another knock so I was at the ICU with some pipes sticking out of my neck. Essentially, we ended up finishing it off with me on a studio laptop in the hospital still. I was mixing and rearranging it in the hospital, which isn’t the way we normally work. I think it’s a nice mix of the older ‘AM’ and some of the newer stuff.”
Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten & Kae Tempest – ‘Flags’
“I approached Damon quite early on about doing this, and he didn’t really like the idea of charity records. It’s a dangerous territory with the white saviour complex and all of that, so I had to talk him into doing it. I asked him to write a song, and he’s so gung-ho and creative that he turned something around in a few weeks.
“Damon’s main stipulation was that he wanted it to be a big collaboration. He didn’t want to be the centre of it. Grian [Chatten, Fontaines D.C. frontman] immediately sprang to mind and Damon was very keen on that idea, and with Kae as well, they all have a mutual respect between them.”
Damon Albarn, Grian Chatten & Kae Tempest. CREDIT: Lawrence Watson
“We put together a supergroup of musicians: people like Johnny Marr, Ade [Utley, drummer] from Portishead, the Ezra [Collective] guys – they were all really up for it as soon as we approached them. Abbey Road Studio Two is this historic room, so it was quite easy to get people to turn up.
“It’s the centre-piece of the record in a lot of ways and really sums up the spirit that went into it. The chaos and unpredictability of having a bunch of people in the same room at the same time is a beautiful thing and can create a bit of magic.”
Black Country, New Road – ‘Strangers’
“I made their last record [‘Forever Howlong’] and they were an obvious fit for this. We were expecting them to do a cover but they wanted to do a new song, and they knocked it out of the park. I love the song they made. It ticks a lot of my personal taste boxes: weird, skronky folk-rock stuff. They’re brilliant musicians, and they turned up and nailed it.”
The Last Dinner Party – ‘Let’s Do It Again!’
“I knew of this track because I was going to make their second record [‘From The Pyre’], but obviously my illness made it impossible for me to be a part of it. It was a demo floating around for that record, and I thought that song was really good. I’m surprised it didn’t go on the record.
“When we approached them about it, they suggested that track. It’s just a really fun, glammy, camp thing that they do really well – leaning into the whole Spiders From Mars aspect of it.”
Beth Gibbons – ‘Sunday Morning’
“This was something that just me and Beth did in my home studio. It had been around for a while. I was thinking about Portishead as they were on the first record, but that wasn’t able to happen for whatever reason. One day, Beth was talking about this song and I threw over some One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest instrumental bits, and Beth sang that vocal first time. It’s one of my favourite songs on this record. I’m a huge Velvet Underground fan so there’s something quite sacrilegious to cover a song like that, but there’s something about Beth’s delivery that I found really beautiful and heartbreaking.
“I mixed it and finished it off – already feeling quite emotional from the year that I’d been having – but I kept stopping it because I was just in bits while listening to it.”
Arooj Aftab & Beck – ‘Lilac Wine’
“That came through quite late. I’m a huge fan of Arooj and we definitely wanted some voices from the Middle East on there. She’s an incredible artist and her voice is stunning. Quite late on in the process, she somehow hooked up with Beck and that was recorded by his people in LA. I’m a huge Nina Simone fan, and they’ve done a great version of this song.”
King Krule – ‘The 343 Loop’
“I love King Krule. We were maybe expecting more of a song because I love his voice, but we thought this was a nice way to transition from more of the song-y stuff into a different zone. It’s almost like an interlude. It’s great.”
Depeche Mode. Credit: Anton Corbijn
Depeche Mode – ‘Universal Soldier’
“I’ve worked with Depeche, and Martin [Gore, songwriter] has always had his eye on what’s going on in the world politically. I approached them quite early on but their process is often quite painfully slow, so I wasn’t expecting anything to come of it for a while. Then, weirdly, it was probably one of the first tracks that got delivered once Martin had found the track to cover. I love it when people really flip a cover version to make it feel like their own track. He sent me something within a couple of weeks, well before the Abbey Road sessions, so we had that early doors. I think it’s a really interesting version.
“They have a pretty regular three or four-year cycle, so I’m pretty sure Martin is writing. Whether or not that materialises sooner rather than later, who knows?”
Ezra Collective & Greentea Peng – ‘Helicopters’
“Ezra were someone that we were keen to be a part of it because they’re such a vibrant part of the British music scene. It was their idea to get Greentea Peng involved. I love the feel of it and the dubbiness. It’s a real left turn in the record.”
Ezra Collective recording for War Child’s ‘Help(2)’. Credit: Adama Jalloh
Arlo Parks – ‘Nothing I Could Hide’
“Toby has to take credit for this one. He knew that she was working on new material, but this song didn’t fit on Arlo‘s album for whatever reason and seemed to fit better on this record.”
English Teacher & Graham Coxon – ‘Parasite’
“We were talking to the English Teacher a lot about doing a cover version originally, but they had a few tracks from working on new material. They felt like this one could fit great on here. They’re big fans of Graham [Coxon] and we were keen to get him involved in a few different places.
“He brings his weird skronky noise like only he can. It’s really nice to hear Lily [Fontaine, frontwoman] singing a bit more. She’s got such a great voice. From what I’ve heard of their new material, they’re heading in a great direction.”
Beabadoobee – ‘Say Yes’
“Toby hooked this one up. Elliott Smith is a hero to most, and Beabadoobee has a particular connection to this song. We talked about a few different ideas for cover versions; there were others on the cards, then at the last minute she flipped to doing this Elliott Smith song. She was so happy, and she’s done a great version of it.”
Big Thief – ‘Relive, Redie’
“I’m a big fan of Big Thief, and we were trying to open it up beyond Britain-based artists. They were keen to be part of it, so did a lot of the work with their usual crew. I love the track. It fits in so perfectly with the mood of the record.”
Fontaines D.C. – ‘Black Boys On Mopeds’
“This was another last-minute one. Fontaines were either going to do their own track or one of a few different covers. They settled on this track and worked it out the night before they came into Abbey Road. Sinead [O’Connor] was on the first ‘Help’ record and was such an icon of Irish music. A lot of her lyrics and the things she stood for seem to be pretty relevant to what’s happening now, unfortunately. This seemed very apt and fitting as the cover they chose. They did a great version, and I love all the weird Velvet Underground-y strings. They brought a bit of gravitas to it.
“It’s a song about children, and that’s been a theme throughout the whole thing. It was all filmed by Jonathan Glazer, and he had the idea to basically not have any adult camera people. Every studio had children running around with Handycams. Damon was very keen to get a kids’ choir on ‘Flags’, and it’s all about trying to help children in awful situations.”
Fontaines D.C. live at Reading 2024. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
Cameron Winter – ‘Warning’
“I really wanted Cameron to be part of this record and approached him quite early on. When I approached him, it was before the Geese record [‘Getting Killed’] came out. I worked on the previous one [‘3D Country’] and couldn’t work on this one for obvious reasons. Now, Cameron has been catapulted and seems to be absolutely everywhere, so I was quite worried that he wouldn’t be able to do something and turn it around, but he was still very keen.
“This is one of my favourite tracks on there, and feels a little different to what people might expect from him at the moment. To me, it feels almost like a sort of Laurie Anderson arty New York track, but the lyrics are very heavy, and there’s a darkness to the whole thing that’s very apt to the moment. I’m really happy he managed to turn it around.”
Cameron Winter performs live in London. CREDIT: Lewis Evans
Young Fathers – ‘Don’t Fight The Young’
“I love Young Fathers and have a long history with them. One of the first things they ever did was a feature on a very old Simian Mobile Disco record that I made. I love their wildness, their energy, and I was very happy they could turn something in. The track is very them and not something you could have predicted.
“With the sequencing, it makes a great segue out of the darkness of the Cameron track into the energy of the Pulp track.”
Pulp – ‘Begging for Change’
“‘Begging For Change’ nearly made it onto Pulp’s last record, ‘More’, but I actually think that Jarvis [Cocker, frontman] has had that track around for years. He could never finish the lyrics. I called him up about being a part of this, and he immediately suggested trying to finish that off. Some of the track is from the ‘More’ sessions, and then they took it into Abbey Road and overdubbed certain things like choirs.
“It’s a pretty insistent and heavy thing from them. With that lyric, it seemed to fit like a glove. I think Jarvis is still living in this record. We had a great time making ‘More’ and it came about quite quickly, but it had been brewing for a while. Jarvis is pretty prolific, but I’m sure there’s a fair amount of fermenting to do before there’s another album ready to go.”
Sampha – ‘Naboo’
“This one also came in fairly late. Sampha is super talented and a very important voice in British music. This is something he did remotely in his own studio. There was a hectic period towards the end where there were a lot of different tracks coming in at the last minute, and this was almost the last one through the gates.
“I love the vibe and percussion of this one, and the feel that it’s very much him.”
Wet Leg – ‘Obvious’
“There were a few different discussions about what track would make it on the record. As far as I’m aware, ‘Obvious’ is a fairly old song that nearly made it onto their first album [‘Wet Leg’]. They’d played it live but it never made it as a recording. Eventually, they managed to get a version they were happy with, and it’s perhaps a different vibe to what you might expect from them. It’s a beautiful track.”
Foals – ‘When The War Is Finally Done’
“Similarly to the Monkeys, it’s been quite a while since Foals have done something [since 2022’s ‘Life Is Yours’]. I’m still very much in touch with Yannis [Philippakis, frontman], and Toby has a long relationship with them through Transgressive.
“The song has a lyric that really deals with war and the mood seemed to be relevant to this record, so it was almost a case of us just asking him to finish it off for this. It’s not ‘big moshpit Foals’; the lyric is pretty heavy and the song is much more melancholic. It’s a beautiful and pretty sad reflection on the state of the world. I would love to be involved in their new material in future, but I’ve still got some ongoing health issues so we’ll see what happens.”
Foals live at Reading 2023. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
Bat For Lashes – ‘Carried My Girl’
“This actually came via the War Child people. Rich [Clarke, War Child Head Of Music] sent this along. I’ve been a fan of Natasha [Khan] for a long time. This song is a very affecting and dramatic lyric that sums up a lot of the mood of the record. She ends the track with the lyric, ‘They’re all our babies’. When you have children of your own and see kids in Sudan, the Congo [and] Gaza, you just see your own children in the eyes of other kids. It’s heartbreaking, and she sums that up brilliantly.”
Anna Calvi, Ellie Rowsell, Nilüfer Yanya & Dove Ellis – ‘Sunday Light’
“I love Anna’s music. She delivered this song in demo form and we instantly loved it. It was down to her – she wanted multiple voices and we were all pushing the spirit of collaboration. It was just a case of seeing who else wanted to come down and do some wailing.
“It’s a very heavy, mournful, almost funeral march of a song, but it’s really beautiful.”
Olivia Rodrigo – ‘The Book Of Love’
“We were approaching all sorts of different artists to broaden out to US artists and pop artists, too. Olivia has been fairly outspoken on political issues and always wears her heart on her sleeve. We talked to her about being part of it, and she came up with the idea of this cover version. I really love this song and was happily surprised that she suggested it.
“We worked out an arrangement, and I managed to talk her into recording what we were calling ‘a Sinatra-style’ live vocal recording with a string section in Abbey Road. Graham Coxon is playing guitar, Ed Harcourt is playing piano, and it’s just a very natural, almost old-school recording.
She turned up and nailed it, take after take. She delivered like an absolute pro and was totally lovely about the whole thing. The weirdness for me was that we set up the session and I ended up back in hospital. I was having a blood transfusion during the recording, but because of Zoom I could hear what was going on through the desk and talk to everyone through their headphones. Then they sent me the parts and I mixed it. It was quite a bizarre experience.
“It’s a really beautiful book-end to the record, really – ending on a message of love, essentially. That’s important to try and remember in these dark times.”
NEW BONUS TRACK: Oasis – ‘Acquiesce (Live At Wembley Stadium)’
“It’s been really great to involve Oasis in their continuing support of War Child. They opened the very first ‘Help’ album, so to have them part of ‘Help(2)’ following the incredible comeback they had last year is a truly rewarding element of this new record.”
Oasis. CREDIT: Big Brother Recordings
War Child releases ‘Help(2)’ on Friday March 6. Pre-order it here.
The post James Ford talks us through the huge new War Child ‘Help(2)’ album – track-by-track appeared first on NME.
