Songs of Disappearance is beating Christmas albums by Paul Kelly, Michael Buble and Mariah Carey after two weeks on Australia’s Aria chart.

December 20, 2021

An album of bird songs from Australia’s most threatened species has climbed two spots to number three on Australia’s Aria chart.

Songs of Disappearance is beating Christmas albums by Paul Kelly, Michael Buble and Mariah Carey after two weeks on the chart.

The 54-song collection was based on recordings by well-known wildlife sound recordist David Stewart, who has spent decades travelling around Australia for his work.

The album reached number five in the ARIA top 50 albums chart in the first week of its release, beating ABBA’s latest album Voyage.

It was produced by cellist Anthony Albrecht, who is also a PhD candidate at Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory.

“The Australian public must be made aware of the dire situation facing our unique wildlife,” Mr Albrecht said before the album was released.

“With Songs of Disappearance we offer the sounds of species that could soon disappear forever”.

The 53 species included on the album are the rarest species in Australia and all on the brink of extinction.

“The night parrot is a special call because it has been recorded so rarely. Few people would have heard any of these bird calls,” Mr Albrecht said.

Also featured are songs of the extremely rare swift parrot, orange-bellied parrot and some vulnerable migratory shorebirds, such as the far-eastern curlew and bar-tailed godwit.

Mr Albrecht is co-creator of The Bowerbird Collective, which aims to strengthen emotional connections to nature through the arts.

Songs of Disappearance was inspired by a similar project in the UK: Let Nature Sing.