The Messthetics are, from left, Joe Lally, Anthony Pirog and Brendan Canty. Lally and Canty previously constituted Fugazi's rhythm section. 

On the YouTube channel run by the ANTI- Records label, there’s a short documentary on James Brandon Lewis and his new album “Eye of I” in which the acclaimed New York City saxophonist talks about the foundational values behind his most recent musical pursuits:

Honesty. Vulnerability. Leaning on intuition. Going “all in” out of respect for the music.

“The most innovative thing I can do is to try relentlessly to be my most authentic self,” Lewis says in the video. “When I pick up the horn, I’m trying to be who I am.”

You can hear that commitment to introspection and excavation on “Eye of I,” an 11-track masterpiece that finds Lewis turning away from — in the words of the bio on his website — “compositional complexities” and “fancy jazz chords” and toward the basics: memorable melodies, folk themes, visceral instinct.

The goal, he has said, was to chase energy, and the album crackles with exactly that, whether the sound it’s making is a gentle and beautiful sax tune or a rumbling, tumbling free-jazz skronk-fest.

On Saturday night, Lewis will play Bend’s Volcanic Theatre Pub alongside The Messthetics, a Washington, D.C., post-punk band that includes former members of Fugazi. Last week, GO! caught up with Lewis for a chat about his approach to his new album. Here’s part of that conversation, edited for space and clarity.

GO!: You’ve talked about the importance of being vulnerable when making music. What does that look like for you day to day?

James Brandon Lewis: I don’t know the perception outside of me, but inside I definitely am constantly questioning. So when I say vulnerable, what I mean is reaching a place where you can’t hide behind the music (and) embracing the butterflies and the nerves and putting yourself out there.

The act of making music and then presenting it is in itself an act of vulnerability, you know? And so I think you have to be OK with that place of being vulnerable and putting who you are out there, or who you’re claiming to be.

GO!: I know you tried to zoom in on melody and instinct and feel when making “Eye of I.” Is there a part of you that feels like playing well-schooled jazz full of complex chords and structures is a way of hiding behind the music?

JBL: No, I don’t think of it that way. I am a product of going to school to learn, quote-unquote, jazz. I’m not dismissing that. But when you go to school, the goal is to learn and to get a grade and get the diploma, right? And when you’re learning, that entails the scales and the chords and a certain amount of complexity. But then you go back to Grandma, and Grandma still knows what she’s talking about (even though) she might not be using the academic language. It’s my hope that when you graduate, you leave the graduating at the graduation, because that’s when life hits and growth begins.

GO!: Given your mindset going into the making of “Eye of I,” did it turn out how you expected it to? Or did it surprise you and go in an unexpected direction?

JBL: Most of the time, because I’ve spent enough time sitting with the ideas of the music, by the time it gets to the studio and we record it, it ends up being pretty close to what I imagined it would sound like. But, you know, I’m a firm believer that there is no there. I could probably re-record it now, and it would sound different than it does.

What: James Brandon Lewis Trio and The Messthetics

When: 9 p.m. Saturday, doors open 8 p.m.

Where: Volcanic Theatre Pub, 70 SW Century Drive, Bend

Cost: $20

Contact: volcanictheatre.com.