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.
Empty of the Sky
Akira Yamaoka Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Kodoku na yume koori tsuku kokoro somete
Kaze wo daite hitomi tojite
Daraku na yume yaiba wo kakagete tsuki sashi
AH kono sora no hate ni wa towa ni nemuru
Uruwashiku mai odoru kimi yo ataeyou wazuka na namida wo
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
The sad moonlight dries away my tears
Dreams of solitude color my frozen heart
Embracing the wind, I close my eyes
Brandishing my sword, I pierce corrupted dreams
Ah, I sleep at the edge of this blue sky
The spirit of an out-of-season flower steals away our dreams
To you, dancing so beautifully, she entrusts only a teardrop
The lyrics to Akira Yamaoka's song "Empty Of The Sky" evoke an eerie and haunting atmosphere, with a melancholic tone that sets the stage for introspection and sorrow. The first two lines describe a moonlit night that is heavy with sadness and tears that have dried up, as if the singer has been crying for a long time. The next line reveals that their heart is frozen with loneliness and that they are embracing the wind, closing their eyes as if surrendering to the emptiness inside. The image of a sword being brandished to pierce corrupted dreams brings a sharp edge to the lyrics, suggesting a potential turning point in the singer's emotions.
The final lines bring a sense of finality to the song, with the singer revealing that they sleep "at the edge of this blue sky." This line conjures up an image of someone who is teetering on the brink of despair, barely holding on to hope as they peer over the edge of the world. The spirit of an out-of-season flower that steals away dreams adds to the surreal and otherworldly quality of the lyrics, further emphasizing the sense of detachment from reality, which may be a result of the singer's deep feeling of loneliness.
Overall, the lyrics to "Empty Of The Sky" are deeply introspective and melancholic, drawing the listener into an emotional landscape that is both haunting and beautiful.
Line by Line Meaning
Kanashii tsukiyo namida karete
The moonlit night is sorrowful, and my tears have dried away
Kodoku na yume koori tsuku kokoro somete
I have a lonely dream that freezes my heart
Kaze wo daite hitomi tojite
I embrace the wind and close my eyes
Daraku na yume yaiba wo kakagete tsuki sashi
I raise my sword to fight against corrupted dreams
AH kono sora no hate ni wa towa ni nemuru
Ah, I sleep eternally at the end of the sky
Kurui saku hana no yousei ubai saru subete no yume wo
The spirit of a withering flower steals all of our dreams
Uruwashiku mai odoru kimi yo ataeyou wazuka na namida wo
You dance so gracefully, let me offer you this small tear
Contributed by Isaiah O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
DJGodaryD86
Composed, Produced, Instruments, Mixed and Performed by: Akira Yamaoka
Vocals By: Riewo
Album: "iFUTURELIST" ( "I, futurist")
(The first original solo album by Akira Yamaoka)
Released: January 13, 2006
Genre: Electronic Rock, Trip Hop, Else
Length: 67:16
Label: Konami
PROMO ONLY!
Released with permission from Akira Yamaoka for promotional purposes on our website article, no duplicates allowed!
Japanese Lyrics:
Kanashii tsukiyo namida karete
Kodoku na yume koori tsuku kokoro somete
Kaze wo daite hitomi tojite
Daraku na yume yaiba wo kakagete tsuki sashi
AH kono sora no hate ni wa towa ni nemuru
Kurui saku hana no yousei ubai saru subete no yume wo
Uruwashiku mai odoru kimi yo ataeyou wazuka na namida wo
English Lyrics:
The sad moonlight dries away my tears
Dreams of solitude color my frozen heart
Embracing the wind, I close my eyes
Brandishing my sword, I pierce corrupted dreams
Ah, I sleep at the edge of this blue sky
The spirit of an out-of-season flower steals away our dreams
To you, dancing so beautifully, she entrusts only a teardrop
-
-
more music: http://goo.gl/ghgCG
DJGodaryD86
The lyrics are in the video description tab and is pinned on the 1st comment.
Anyway I copy-paste it here for you too:
Japanese Lyrics:
Kanashii tsukiyo namida karete
Kodoku na yume koori tsuku kokoro somete
Kaze wo daite hitomi tojite
Daraku na yume yaiba wo kakagete tsuki sashi
AH kono sora no hate ni wa towa ni nemuru
Kurui saku hana no yousei ubai saru subete no yume wo
Uruwashiku mai odoru kimi yo ataeyou wazuka na namida wo
English Lyrics:
The sad moonlight dries away my tears
Dreams of solitude color my frozen heart
Embracing the wind, I close my eyes
Brandishing my sword, I pierce corrupted dreams
Ah, I sleep at the edge of this blue sky
The spirit of an out-of-season flower steals away our dreams
To you, dancing so beautifully, she entrusts only a teardrop
DJGodaryD86
Composed, Produced, Instruments, Mixed and Performed by: Akira Yamaoka
Vocals By: Riewo
Album: "iFUTURELIST" ( "I, futurist")
(The first original solo album by Akira Yamaoka)
Released: January 13, 2006
Genre: Electronic Rock, Trip Hop, Else
Length: 67:16
Label: Konami
PROMO ONLY!
Released with permission from Akira Yamaoka for promotional purposes on our website article, no duplicates allowed!
Japanese Lyrics:
Kanashii tsukiyo namida karete
Kodoku na yume koori tsuku kokoro somete
Kaze wo daite hitomi tojite
Daraku na yume yaiba wo kakagete tsuki sashi
AH kono sora no hate ni wa towa ni nemuru
Kurui saku hana no yousei ubai saru subete no yume wo
Uruwashiku mai odoru kimi yo ataeyou wazuka na namida wo
English Lyrics:
The sad moonlight dries away my tears
Dreams of solitude color my frozen heart
Embracing the wind, I close my eyes
Brandishing my sword, I pierce corrupted dreams
Ah, I sleep at the edge of this blue sky
The spirit of an out-of-season flower steals away our dreams
To you, dancing so beautifully, she entrusts only a teardrop
-
-
more music: http://goo.gl/ghgCG
Zen B Monk
Still one of my all time favorites by Yamaoka.
Dradolan
This is one of my favourite songs to this day. Doesn't get old, always great every time I listen to it.
Santo Matias
I love this song. No clue of words being sung, but nonetheless beautiful. Thank you for the post.
Es Pan.
One of my favorites songs of all time!! We love u Yamaoka
Yessie Bucket
One of my absolute favorites. <3 Thanks for the upload. (Dear God, it's so hard to find Yamaoka's music -aside from his Silent Hill stuff- on youtube. ._. )
DJGodaryD86
@soombie You're welcome and also thank you on your comment :) Btw here are the lyrics: The sad moonlight dries away my tears Dreams of solitude color my frozen heart Embracing the wind, I close my eyes Brandishing my sword, I pierce corrupted dreams Ah, I sleep at the edge of this blue sky The spirit of an out-of-season flower steals away our dreams To you, dancing so beautifully, she entrusts only a teardrop
AcidBlackLove86
why are there so few views for akira's songs? O_o He;s one of my favorite composers lol Him, yoko kanno, hyde, kagrra, all fueled my interest in japanese music.
Toprak
Imagine Yoko Kanno and Akira Yamaoka working on a jazz fusion album together. Oh man
pablovirus
such a great song