He is best known for his work on the Silent Hill series for which he composed all the music and sound effects in all seven current games (excluding Silent Hill Play Novel for Game Boy Advance). Some of the music from the first four games was also remixed and used in the Silent Hill movie. He also played a doubly important role as producer of the third and fourth Silent Hill games (which were available for PlayStation 2/PC and PlayStation 2/Xbox/PC). His music from Silent Hill 2 was performed live in 2005 at the third Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany and at the world-premiere of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony Live! on May 27, 2006 in Chicago, Illinois, where Yamaoka himself accompanied the orchestra with an electric guitar. As well, Yamaoka actively composes music for Konami's Bemani line of games, particularly, the Beatmania IIDX series.
His first original, non-soundtrack album, iFUTURELIST, was released in January 2006.
Career
He joined Konami on September 21, 1993 after previously being a freelance music composer. He is most well known for his work for the Silent Hill series of video games, for which he composed all the music and sound effects in the whole series (excluding Silent Hill Play Novel for the Game Boy Advance and Esperándote in Silent Hill, composed by 村中りか (Rika Muranaka)). Since Silent Hill 3, he is playing a more important role as the series' producer, also continuing with his music composition working.
Yamaoka's sound commonly contains strong melancholy undertones and generally identifies with the dark ambient, industrial, trip-hop and rock genres. Since Silent Hill 3, he also started working in collaboration with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and Joe Romersa for vocal compositions.
Much of his work from previous titles has been compiled for the 2006 Silent Hill movie adaptation, directed by Christophe Gans.
His music from Silent Hill 2 was performed live in 2005 at the third Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany. Yamaoka also performed music from Silent Hill at the world-premiere of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony Live! on May 27, 2006 in Chicago, Illinois, and accompanied the orchestra with an electric seven-string guitar. He also composed songs for Konami's Bemani series, which has also featured tracks from Silent Hill.
His first original album, iFUTURELIST, was released in January 2006. He also wrote the theme of 101%, the main show of the French TV channel Nolife.
On December 2, 2009, it was announced that Yamaoka was leaving his long term employer Konami.
Personal Life
Before working as a video game composer, Yamaoka initially sought a career as a designer, but instead became a musician after studying product design at Tokyo Art College.
In 1993 he joined Konami to work on the game Rocket Knight Adventures 2. When Konami began searching for a musician to compose Silent Hill's score, Yamaoka volunteered because he thought he was the only one capable of making the soundtrack.
Yamaoka stated in a 2009 interview that his favorite game creator is Suda 51 and his favorite video game is No More Heroes.
Cradle of Forest
Akira Yamaoka Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Deep in the forest night
Children dance the waltz
They laugh
Whispering hand in hand
Just like children like to do
Their eyes
What are they looking for?
Their song
Starting to make some sense
Only if you're listening...
Dance
Dance like butterflies
Shadows appear
Right before my eyes
Sounds
Echo the absurd
Hard to explain
Something that I heard
Now
Hear the forest talking
Insects and birds
Does the scent of soil and beast
Breathe the life into the animal you hide
It's a great illusion
One never knows
When you think you're really alone
Feel the eyes of someone looking in on you
Again
See how the children play
Red moon colours the trees
Their feet
Innocent rustling sounds
Playful, dreamlike fantasies
Dance
Dance like butterflies
Shadows appear
Right before my eyes
Sounds
Echo the absurd
Hard to explain
Something that I heard
Now
Hear the forest talking
Insects and birds
Does the scent of soil and beast
Breathe the life into the animal you hide?
It's a great illusion
One never knows
When you think you're really alone
Feel the eyes of someone looking in on you
Now
Hear the forest talking
Insects and birds
Does the scent of soil and beast
Breathe the life into the animal you hide
It's a great illusion
One never knows
When you think you're really alone
Feel the eyes of someone looking in on you
The song "Cradle of Forest" by Akira Yamaoka paints a vivid picture of a forest at night, where children dance waltzes and play innocent, dreamlike games. The lyrics describe the forest as a place of wonder and mystery, where shadows and sounds come alive and creatures lurk in the darkness. The children's laughter and rustling of leaves create an atmosphere of magic as the forest seems to come to life around them.
As the song progresses, the lyrics suggest a sense of unease and uncertainty as the forest becomes more alive and ominous. The song asks whether the scent of soil and beast breathes life into the hidden animal within us, and if we ever truly know if we are alone in the forest. The children's playfulness is juxtaposed with the possibility of something sinister lurking in the shadows. Overall, the lyrics to "Cradle of Forest" convey a haunting sense of enchantment and danger, suggesting that the forest is a place where magic and horror coexist.
Line by Line Meaning
There deep
The unknown location is deep in the forest
Deep in the forest night
The events occur during nighttime in forest
Children dance the waltz
Kids are dancing a waltz
They laugh
The children are laughing
Whispering hand in hand
They are holding hands while whispering
Just like children like to do
Typical behavior for children
Their eyes
The eyes of the children
What are they looking for?
Questioning the motive of the children's actions
White dress flutters the beat
The dress is moving with the rhythm of the music
Their song
The children's music
Starting to make some sense
The music is beginning to become recognizable
Only if you're listening...
The music is only understandable if you are actively listening
Dance
A command to dance
Dance like butterflies
Dance with agility and grace
Shadows appear
Shadows are becoming visible
Right before my eyes
The shadows are in front of the artist
Sounds
The sounds being heard
Echo the absurd
The sounds are strange or odd
Hard to explain
The sounds are difficult to describe
Something that I heard
The artist has heard something strange
Now
In the present moment
Hear the forest talking
The artist can hear the forest making noise
Insects and birds
The noise is coming from specific insects and birds
Does the scent of soil and beast
Questioning if the smell of the forest amplifies animalistic tendencies
Breathe the life into the animal you hide
The singer wonders if the environment empowers the primal nature within us
It's a great illusion
The idea that we are the top of the food chain is false
One never knows
Humans will never truly understand nature
When you think you're really alone
When you believe that no one is with you
Feel the eyes of someone looking in on you
The artist senses a presence even when alone
Again
Returning to the children's dance
See how the children play
Observing the children's actions
Red moon colours the trees
Describing the coloring of the environment
Their feet
The feet of the children
Innocent rustling sounds
The sounds created by the children playing
Playful, dreamlike fantasies
The imaginative actions of the children
Now
Again, in the present moment
Contributed by Micah O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.