A decade can feel like a lifetime in dance music, but Jimmy Scott Free’s new single Turn Back Time featuring the late Kim English compresses memory and momentum into four euphoric minutes. The Southend-born artist, now living between the Midlands and Barcelona, re-enters the UK scene with a cut that’s as soulful as it is radio-ready, a bridge between the early days of DIY club culture and a renewed creative drive.
Jimmy’s name first traveled through underground circles in the 2000s. He promoted nights from the age of 15, then built a live dance act with his brother around a self-built reggae-style sound system. That hustle put the band on stages with Peter Hook and The Light, Groove Armada, and Skunk Anansie, and earned them Best Dance Track at the Exposure Music Awards in 2010. Then came the crash: industry fatigue, a move to Spain, and a long silence. “When my brother left the band, I lost my heart for music,” he says. “But when a friend visited last year and convinced me to plug in the studio again, I haven’t stopped writing since.”
Turn Back Time is the spark of that resurgence and a respectful nod to house’s lineage through Kim English, whose voice carries enduring warmth and resolve. The track is the first in a run of releases set to build toward a full-length album and a potential new live show, this time with proper label backing. The spirit, he insists, remains fiercely independent. This is a musician who once survived a gas explosion in Amsterdam at 21 and later beat a wrongful arrest after a London gig—battle-tested, but more focused than before. “This is a new chapter, but the fire’s still the same. I’m doing this on my own terms, but with a lot more focus this time around.”
A simple music video is in the works, with behind-the-scenes studio footage likely to follow. Turn Back Time is available now.