Frog sounds set to light up the music charts

The creative team behind an album of bird songs that shook the top of Australia’s music charts are at it again with a new album and a new animal.

This time the album will feature field recordings from another severely threatened species group – frogs.

Australian Frog Calls: Songs of Disappearance features the calls of 43 of Australia’s most threatened frogs.

The album, which was released last week to promote FrogID Week, is a collaboration between Australia Museum FrogID project, the Bowerbird Collective, Listening Earth and Mervyn Street of Mangkaja Arts. 

It comes after the success of the first Songs of Disappearance album featuring bird songs became a surprise hit leading into Christmas last year, landing number two on the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) charts soon after its release.

The album, which was created by a CDU PhD candidate, featured 54 tracks of bird calls that were part of wildlife sound recordist David Stewart’s collection, compiled over 40 years.

Album producer and Charles Darwin University (CDU) PhD candidate Anthony Albrecht said the decision to make another album was easy after the success of the bird song album last year.

“Following the success of the Songs of Disappearance bird songs album in 2021, the Bowerbird Collective was keen to follow up with an even more outlandish idea,” Mr Albrecht said.

“We felt that getting croaking frogs to the top of the ARIA charts in the name of conservation would be a great goal for the project's second year.

“One in six of Australia's frogs are threatened, and we have lost several species to extinction in recent decades due to chytrid fungus, and habitat loss.”

Mr Albrecht said the recording were a combination of submissions from the public through the FrogID program, while others were recorded by scientists.

“The album begins with a celebration of common species, such as the Common Eastern Froglet, which is the most frequently submitted call to FrogID,” he said.

“The focus is on Australia's frogs, many of which are threatened, such as the Spotted Tree Frog, the Yellow-spotted Bell Frog and the Mountain Mist Frog. There are also several calls of extinct frogs, including the Southern and Northern Gastric Brooding Frogs.

“Hearing these solemn croaks on the album, which will never be heard in the wild again, is very moving.”

People interested to hear the frog calls can visit the website to buy the album.