Bristol’s Dylan James announces his latest EP ‘Warriors In Disguise’ out Spring 2027 and shares the first double single ‘ADHD / Say Nothing’ to be released on 23 October during ADHD Awareness Month.
The double single offers a first look at the two sides of the record. Opening the EP, ‘Say Nothing’ is its heaviest moment, where distorted ’70s rock guitars collide with pounding drums and a gritty vocal, creating an anthem for a generation trying to communicate through acronyms, algorithms and instant dopamine.
Its companion, ‘ADHD’ is the tender counterpoint: a heartfelt song built on violin and piano for anyone who has ever felt left out, released to coincide with its dedicated Awareness Month. Lyrically it moves between the ache of trying to win approval and the quiet magic of being different, before a chorus flips the story on its head:
‘Some of us are born Superstars.’ Paired together, one song is about the noise and the other about the person underneath it:
“It’s an important song,” says Dylan. “It’s my youngest child, he struggles on a day to day basis and this is a song for other parents and other people going through ADHD. It took me a long time and for a while I just thought my kid was being difficult. That’s about your own ego and not about them. You gotta be present, you gotta be focused and it’s really hard. If my son ever hears this then I hope he understands that I was singing it from a good place.”
The EP grew out of Dylan’s own search for meaning. After years of building businesses, leading teams and chasing success, he began to question what success really means, and what sits beneath achievement, identity and ego. The record explores the tension between the part of us that fights, protects and achieves, and the part that loves, creates and allows itself to be vulnerable.
Dylan: “I believe the things we go through as children keep shaping who we become, and that understanding our shadows is far more valuable than hiding from them. I used to think strength and vulnerability were opposites, but they can live in the same person. And I’ve learned that external success doesn’t automatically bring you any peace inside. I don’t claim to have the answers. My beliefs are still evolving and so am I, and these songs are simply a record of where I am along the way.”
Raw and tender in equal measure, ‘Warriors In Disguise’ is an EP about masculinity, fatherhood, identity and love.
Bristol-born Dylan James is a singer-songwriter, father, husband and entrepreneur who writes from somewhere deep within himself, a place bigger than words.
For the best part of a decade he quietly perfected his craft, building a following through rare home demos. One devotee, Noah and the Whale’s Matt Owens, was so struck by the songs that he produced James’s debut album, Expected To Fly (2023).
James chronicles the home truths of modern life, from drunken failings and broken dreams to battle-hardened parental commitment.
He wears his heart on his sleeve, and that openness has become his greatest strength, leaving listeners with something increasingly rare: hope, in a world that often has more questions than answers.
Dylan’s full EP will follow next year and live dates will be announced soon, in the meantime Dylan plays a free gig on 10th November at Gibson Garage, London – 6.30pm.
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