I don’t remember what I was doing when Spotify served me the last track off Ann Bai’s debut album. I just remember stopping.

The song is 是什麼讓我遇見這樣的你 — roughly, “What Brings Me To You” — and it closes out her 2012 record Catcher in the Rye (麥田捕手). I didn’t know who she was. I could tell it was Mandarin, but I didn’t understand a word. What I knew was her voice: sweet, controlled, completely her own. It has a purity to it that’s hard to explain except to say that nothing feels wasted. No oversinging, no strain — just a voice that trusts itself.

Ann Bai (白安) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter who started posting music online at sixteen and was eventually signed to B’in Music after being discovered at a festival. Catcher in the Rye was her debut, and it holds up like one. She writes her own songs, mixes Mandarin and English across the album without it feeling like a gimmick, and has a folk-meets-indie-pop sensibility that doesn’t belong to any one scene.

I don’t know a lot about her beyond the music. But sometimes that’s the cleanest way in — no backstory, just the songs. My wife loves this album too, which is a decent quality signal. It’s become a road trip staple for us, which feels right for music this open and unhurried.

Start with the last track. Then go back to the beginning. You can listen to the full album on YouTube.