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.
Float Up From Dream
Akira Yamaoka Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The rebirth of paradise dispoiled by mankind.
Remember me and your true self as well.
Also that which you must become,
The one who will lead us to paradise with blood-stained hands.)
The lyrics of Akira Yamaoka's song Float Up From Dream are quite powerful and carry a lot of depth. The song seems to talk about the rebirth of paradise that has been destroyed by mankind. This could be seen as a metaphor for the destruction humans have caused to the natural world. The first line, "They've come to witness the beginning" might be interpreted as a group of people who have finally acknowledged the harm that humans have done to the planet, and are now trying to undo the damage.
The next line, "The rebirth of paradise dispoiled by mankind" reinforces this idea. The word "dispoiled" means ruined or spoiled. The paradise that once existed has been ruined by mankind's actions. However, the lyrics also suggest that there is hope for redemption. The line "Remember me and your true self as well" could be seen as a reminder to humans to remember who they are and what they are capable of. The line "Also that which you must become" seems to be about the transformation that is required to lead humanity towards a better future. It might be a call to action to become leaders who are willing to take action, even if it requires "blood-stained hands."
Overall, the lyrics of Float Up From Dream seem to offer a message of hope for the future. It's a powerful reminder that, even though we have caused a lot of harm, we are capable of making positive change.
Line by Line Meaning
They've come to witness the beginning,
People have arrived to see the start of something important.
The rebirth of paradise dispoiled by mankind.
Humanity has destroyed paradise, and now it is being brought back to life.
Remember me and your true self as well.
Don't forget about me and who you really are deep down.
Also that which you must become,
Remember the person you need to become in order to achieve your goals.
The one who will lead us to paradise with blood-stained hands.
You may need to do bad things in order to bring about a better future.
Contributed by Lauren D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.