{"product_id":"howie-lee-birdy-islandd","title":"Howie Lee – Birdy Island","description":"\u003cp\u003eThere’s a reason rural escapism in China has risen over the past several years. Millions are drawn to lifestyle vloggers like\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eLi Ziqi and Dianxi Xiaoge, who portray idyllic countryside lives spent creating everything from food to clothing from scratch. There’s even a small but notable group of young people called\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003efanxiang qingnian\u003c\/em\u003e, who, in a departure from China’s mass rural-to-urban migration\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eof the past four decades, have opted to return to farm life. Of course, Chinese nationalism and the state’s push to promote Chinese culture do play a role, but the fact remains that China’s rapid economic growth, not unlike that of its American counterpart, has left its people wanting something more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eBirdy Island\u003c\/em\u003e, producer\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eHowie Lee\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003etakes this desire and projects it into the future, applying it to the question of what follows society’s collapse under capitalism. The artist imagines a scenario that is by turns dystopic and hopeful, in which a Chinese investment company has decided to fund a theme park aimed at reconnecting people with nature and spirituality. The park is located on a floating island (the album’s namesake), where birds and ancestral spirits commingle. Lee, as a character in this musical metafiction, has been hired to score its soundtrack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBirdy Island\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e proposes a kind of hopeful syncretism, reaching back into traditional Chinese spiritual practices and finding a place for them within the destructive wake of neoliberal economics. It is also a documentation of both the beauty and the corruption of a culture that is sometimes romanticized, frequently villainized, but always human. - \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/reviews\/albums\/howie-lee-birdy-island\/\"\u003ePitchfork\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ciframe width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" style=\"border-radius: 12px;\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/2Juy4gK69leZMQohtTDJKv?utm_source=generator\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cbr\u003eLabel: Mais Um Discos – MAIS042LP\u003cbr\u003eFormat: Vinyl, LP, Album\u003cbr\u003eCountry: UK\u003cbr\u003eReleased: 16 Apr 2021\u003cbr\u003eGenre: Electronic, Folk, World, \u0026amp; Country\u003cbr\u003eStyle: Experimental, Ambient, Chinese Classical\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mais Um Discos","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43027129827486,"sku":"4062548021684","price":45.0,"currency_code":"SGD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0584\/5434\/3838\/products\/R-18390754-1618998997-5494.jpg?v=1702900503","url":"https:\/\/theanalogvault.mom\/products\/howie-lee-birdy-islandd","provider":"The Analog Vault","version":"1.0","type":"link"}