As time continues to march forward, Scottish four-piece Dictator has greeted the new year with a brand new single. Dictator garnered global attention from their time at the New Colossus Festival in NYC, all the way to Y Not? Festival held in Pikehall, Derbyshire. Inspired by artists such as Gorrillaz, Alt-J, Nas, Action Bronson, DJ Premier, and Portishead, their sound has combined hip hop beats, indie, funk, and jazz to create exciting and invigorating masterpieces.

This new release, "Screwball Scramble", is an ode to getting older. A middle-aged anthem that comes just as the band seems to be hitting their stride. Revitalized by their time supporting Young Fathers, another band that is willing to escape the norm and defy genre expectations, Dictator returned to the studio and began work on their most exhilarating song yet.

Lyrically, "Screwball Scramble" takes you through the trials and tribulations of life. In an extremely relatable way, the listener is faced with the realities of going back home to pick up the pieces, feeling disconnected from yourself, wanting to get better, the heartache, the small victories, feeling like the good times are long gone, everything. The chorus repeating “go~ right back to the start” perfectly encapsulates how it feels as you get older and constantly starting over in different ways.

In terms of style and composition, "Screwball Scramble" is surprisingly sunny. It opens with Zach Tarimo Goodhur strumming some rather simple guitar chords before record scratching into the full-fledged band. After that moment, the guitar rocks out with the beat provided by drummer Allan Ramsay. Allan keeps a tempo that has a slight 90s nostalgia to it; the drums would feel perfectly at home with some beatboxing and a park in the summer. The bassline is subtle until providing the only background to the penultimate verse, where Joe Murty manages to infuse a slightly somber edge. Immediately after the final chorus is delivered with fervor, exploding into near manic excitement. The vocals across the track are almost filtered through a radio, making them echoey and distant, yet things are so well mixed that it’s clearly a design choice and doesn’t detract from the clarity of the words. Vocalist Michael Campbell utilizes a mix of spoken verse and crooned chorus that gives an air of call and response. It’s fun nihilism, not quite hopeless realism, looking on the bright side of a rain cloud.

Dictator really went all out with the creation of "Screwball Scramble". The insight that they had created the song after having their love for the craft reignited by Young Fathers comes through in their energy. This song feels like someone putting the wind back in your sails. The tempo is jaunty and almost made me forget that we are in the seemingly perpetual winter. It’s like someone telling you it’ll all be okay, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the moment.

Luckily for those of us not in the UK, Dictator does try to make the trip to our side of the world pretty regularly. Their next North American visit will be North by Northeast, held in June 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They also have teased that they’re working on a few more visits after that. For now, the dulcet tones of their music can keep fans sated until they appear in a city near you.

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