Songfacts®:

• "Where Have The Sparrows Gone?" is a reflective song where Australian singer-songwriter Emily Barker imagines a post-apocalyptic, birdless London.
• Barker wrote the song in 2019 when the climate crisis was at the forefront, and released the track on August 13, 2020, amid the COVID-19 global turmoil. She explained to The Sun:
  
  "It follows a mother and her child as they attempt to flee a future apocalyptic London. It's quite spooky looking at the lyrics in the context of the pandemic. The dystopia I imagined as being a possible future event sometimes feels scarily close."
• The Tom Jacob-directed video focuses on one of the song's verses.
  
  Ashes in my pocket
  I'll scatter them when we stop
  He loved to be by water
  Down where the waves bow and buck
  
  Barker explained the verse tells a story within a story. "We don't know exactly what happened to the father, but we know he is no longer there," she said. "As they flee, the mother and child make a detour to the ocean to scatter his ashes."
• Recorded at StudiOwz in Pembrokeshire, Wales, A Dark Murmuration of Words is an exploration of climate change, racism, sexism, and myths of economic progress through the lens of what it means to return "home." The family's search for closure in this song acts as a metaphor for the loss of species and destruction of natural environments.
  
  "Over the last few decades the Sparrow has gone from being one of the world's most common and widespread birds to being Red Listed as a species of high conservation concern," said Barker. "When writing the song, my thoughts returned to the sparrows outside my window - how sad it would be to look out and not see and hear their vibrant movement and chatter. I hope that day never comes."