I don't think it's a hot take to say that Michael Bridgmon, the creative force behind the project James Wavey, is one of the most distinctive artists in the Bay Area music scene. His work has always been genre-bending, emotionally raw, and politically defiant. But now that we're getting a few glimpses of his new album Sleepers Break, I'm going to get out ahead of the crowd to confidently declare it's his best work yet.

Today we got the first single, “When Did the Lights Go Out?” and its accompanying video. Check it out:

The song feels as much like a thesis statement as it does a lead single. Bridgmon turns the enormity of gentrification and colonization into something immediate and personal and asks, "Who gets to move freely through a city? Who belongs there, and who gets excluded?"

(I wish I knew more about the behind-the-scenes of this video, which features a peek through a kaleidoscope, a classic Dylan visual reference, and a variety of backdrops familiar to anyone who lives in the higher-numbered streets of the Mission.)

Last Friday I caught James Wavey at the Make Out Room and was treated to more of what's to come in Sleepers Break, performed with a new backing band: Jafar Green on guitar, William Johnston Bohrer on bass, Shawn Urbi-Tennie playing drums, Marc Capelle on keys, and of course Bridgmon out front.

Bridgmon's performance made me think of what it must have been like to see Sly Stone early in his career. While the show began with only those in the know crowded in close, by mid-set everyone who had been sheepishly hugging the bar joined the throngs of people,  and several times I caught glances of audience members looking to their friends with surprise and delight. There’s a charming looseness and total commitment to the performance that makes Bridgmon nearly impossible to take your eyes off of, let alone compare to anyone else in the scene right now. At one point we were all instructed to cast our hands out and chant "flourish!" I truly hope we were all manifesting for him.

If this song, video, and recent performance are any indication, through the James Wavey project, Michael Bridgmon is becoming a more compelling version of an artist who had already seemed determined to occupy a lane entirely his own.

“When Did the Lights Go Out?” appears on Sleepers Break, available for preorder on Bandcamp and on 12-inch vinyl and CD from Dandy Boy Records.