Australian Bird Calls (also referred to as Songs of Disappearance: Australian Bird Calls and just Songs of Disappearance) is an album of Australian bird calls, released on 3 December 2021 by the Bowerbird Collective and BirdLife Australia. It was created to bring attention to endangered and threatened species of Australian birds.[1] The recordings were made by nature recordist David Stewart and Nature Sound.[2]
| Australian Bird Calls | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Recording by | ||||
| Released | 3 December 2021 | |||
| Genre | Bird calls | |||
| Length | 25:00 | |||
| Label | Bowerbird Collective | |||
| Producer |
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| Songs of Disappearance chronology | ||||
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Following its physical release, Australian Bird Calls peaked at number two on the Australian ARIA Charts.[3]
Although the title initially appeared as Songs of Disappearance,[1] this later became the de facto "artist" name for the Bowerbird Collective's effort to bring attention to threatened and endangered Australian species, with the album itself then taking on the title of Australian Bird Calls as a "sequel" album of frog calls titled Australian Frog Calls, attributed to Songs of Disappearance, was released on 2 December 2022.[4]
Background
editThe album came from an idea by Anthony Albrecht, a PhD student at Charles Darwin University and co-founder of the Bowerbird Collective, and his supervisor Stephen Garnett, who wrote the report The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020, published in December 2021, which found one in six (216 out of 1,299) Australian bird species are threatened.[5] Garnett's report, released in collaboration with BirdLife Australia, further identified 50 species of Australian birds closest to "facing extinction due to lack of policy support and rampant climate change".[2]
Violinist Simone Slattery, the other co-founder of Bowerbird Collective, arranged the first track, a collage of the 53 bird songs recorded by David Stewart over four decades.[6] Slattery said she kept listening to the isolated bird calls until a structure came to mind "like a quirky dawn chorus. Some of these sounds will shock listeners because they're extremely percussive, they're not melodious at all. They're clicks, they're rattles, they're squawks and deep bass notes."[6] The Guardian noted the "morse code-like song" of the night parrot, which had not been heard until 2013, as well as the call of the regent honeyeater, a bird now considered "so rare that it is literally losing its own voice out of loneliness".[6]
BirdLife Australia CEO Paul Sullivan called the album "some rare recordings of birds that may not survive if we don't come together to protect them. While this campaign is fun, there's a serious side to what we're doing, and it's been heartening to see bird enthusiasts showing governments and businesses that Australians care about these important birds."[2]
Reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| The Music |   [7] |
A staff writer at The Music gave the album four-and-a-half out of five stars and posted a review consisting entirely of bird noises.[7]
Commercial performance
editThe album debuted at number five on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart dated 13 December 2021, selling over 2,000 units, with 1,500 of those being pre-ordered copies.[6] The following week, it ascended to number three.[8] It later re-entered at number two.[9]
Track listing
editCharts
edit| Chart (2021) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[9] | 2 |
Release history
edit| Region | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Various | 3 December 2021 | The Bowerbird Collective | |
| Australia | 4 February 2022 | CD |
References
edit- ^ a b Wilson, Jim (6 December 2021). "'Songs of Disappearance': The soundtrack making a difference this Christmas". 2GB. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
- ^ a b c "Album of bird chirps is hoping to topple Adele on the ARIA Charts". The Music Network. 3 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
- ^ "Korn snare first #1 album in over 20 years with Requiem Plus, new peak for Australian Bird Calls!". Australian Recording Industry Association. 11 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
- ^ Disalvo, Tom (30 November 2022). "An album of frog calls hopes to challenge Taylor Swift on the Australian charts". NME. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
- ^ Cox, Lisa (1 December 2021). "One in six Australian birds are now threatened, landmark action plan finds". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d Stafford, Andrew (10 December 2021). "'Incredibly moving': songs by threatened birds beat Abba to No 5 spot on Australian music charts". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
- ^ a b "Australian Bird Calls / Songs Of Disappearance". The Music. 11 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
- ^ "ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ a b "ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. 14 February 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.