This is an album whose significance won’t be clear for years to come. That is to say, it is without question significant and unique already, but whether it represents a wider shift or just a localised disruption will be down to its influence and how Howie Lee follows it. The Shanghai based musician has a healthy catalogue already, but up until 2021, for all that he has used Chinese sounds and scales, and for all that he’s connected to a very globalised “deconstructed club” movement, it’s been essentially rooted in the history of electronica from Europe and North America. Birdy Island, though, not only uproots itself but floats freely away. Here, Chinese folk, classical and pop forms interweave with jazz, grime, dubstep, Western easy listening and glitchy IDM, the elements balanced exquisitely, always led by melody and mood rather than the constraints of genre. It’s one of the most individual statements of its time, it’s utterly radical, potentially provides a blueprint for more revolutionary work - and yet its blissfully enjoyable in the most immediate sense too.