Crikey! An album of birdsongs is flying high on the Australian charts

Virgin Radio

20 Dec 2021, 12:26

Whilst the top of the UK album chart is filled with the usual suspects, Down Under there is a surprising offering winging its way towards the top of the tree.

Joining the likes of Adele and Ed Sheeran on the highest branches of the ARIA album chart in Aus is a record made up of the sounds of Australian birds. Named Songs of Disappearance, the album features recordings of bird calls, and is proving to be so popular that it’s dislodged ABBA from the top five, and is currently ahead of Michael Buble and Mariah Carey.

Flying straight into the top five in its first week in the chart, the album features a title-track introduction, as well as the sounds of 53 endangered Australian birds. Whilst that doesn't include the seagulls from Finding Nemo, you can hear the Purple-crowned Fairy-wren, the Gang-gang Cockatoo, the Mallee Whipbird, and the Regent Honeyeater, amongst others.

The album’s website says: “The title track celebrates the incredible diversity of the Australian soundscape, and highlights what we stand to lose without taking action. Be immersed in a chorus of iconic cockatoos, the buzzing of bowerbirds, a bizarre symphony of seabirds, and the haunting call of one of the last remaining night parrots.” 

Proceeds from the sale of the album are going to BirdLife Australia's conservation efforts. 

Speaking to the ABC, Anthony Albrecht, a PhD student at Charles Darwin University and co-founder of The Bowerbird Collective, said: “It's absolutely incredible to have knocked Michael Buble, Mariah Carey and a whole bunch of other really famous artists out of the [top five],” he said.

He added: “In some ways, it's not surprising, because I believe Australians generally are so much more attuned now to the environmental crisis that we're all facing - and that the unique and incredible species that also call Australia home are facing."

The tweets and squawks that appear on the album were recorded by David Stewart, a wildlife sound recordist, who has spent more than three decades collecting the sometimes rarely heard bird sounds.

You can find out more about the album at songsofdisappearance.com.