By Jonathan Bernstein There’s a small part of Tyler Perry that can’t help but wish it were still 2022. That was back when he was becoming familiar with Academy of Light, the loosely formed ambient noise collective helmed by East L.A. musician, producer, and scene organizer Ryan Pollie. Much of the corresponding community of songwriters and bands centered around a tiny tavern-style bar in Eagle Rock called the Fable, which Perry began frequenting. “I created Tyler Ballgame to play a show at the Fable,” Perry says, referring to the artist moniker under which he now performs. “There were 40 or 50 artists in L.A. who were part of this ambient collective, and all these bands started forming, and we’d all go to each other’s shows. That was a big part of building the myth around Ballgame.” Mythology and community are two concepts that come up quite a bit in conversation with the 34-year-old singer whose album For the First Time, Again is one of 2026’s buzziest independent debuts.…