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.
Letter ~ From the Lost Days
Akira Yamaoka Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Am I still happy, I began
Have I grown up pretty
Is Daddy still a good man
Am I still friends with Colleen
I'm sure that I'm still laughing, aren't I, aren't I
Hey there to my future self
I have this to tell you
Remember it once in awhile
Ten years ago your past self
Prayed for your happiness
Please don't lose hope
Oh, oh what a pair me and you
Put here to feel joy, not be blue
Sad times and bad times see them through
Soon we will know if it's for real what we both feel
Though I can't know for sure how things worked out for us
No matter how hard it gets, you have to realize:
We weren't put on this earth to suffer and cry
We were made for being happy
So...be happy...for me, for you...please.
Oh, oh what a pair me and you
Put here to feel joy, not be blue
Sad times and bad times see them through
Soon we will know if it's for real what we both feel
We were put here on this earth, put here to feel joy
We were put here on this earth, put here to feel joy
We were put here on this earth, put here to feel joy
We were put here on this earth, put here to feel joy
The song "Letter ~ From the Lost Days," by Akira Yamaoka, speaks about the uncertain nature of life and the hopes for a happy future. The lyrics present a message from the past self to the future self, in which the singer wants to know if they are still happy, whether they have grown up pretty, and whether the people around them have changed. The song is introspective and contemplative as it explores the idea of life's unpredictable nature.
Throughout the song, the singer also imparts a message of hope; they remind their future self not to lose hope because their past self prayed for their happiness. The line "We weren't put on this earth to suffer and cry / We were made for being happy" speaks to the underlying message of the song. The song is a reminder to the listener to persevere through tough times and to not lose sight of their happiness.
Overall, "Letter ~ From the Lost Days," provides an insightful reflection on life and the importance of cherishing our happiness. It encourages us to hold on to hope and not give up on our pursuit of joy.
Line by Line Meaning
A letter to my future self
Writing to the person I will become
Am I still happy, I began
Wondering if my future self remains content
Have I grown up pretty
Questioning my physical appearance in the future
Is Daddy still a good man
Asking if my father continues to be a reputable person
Am I still friends with Colleen
Curious if I still maintain a friendship with Colleen
I'm sure that I'm still laughing, aren't I, aren't I
Confident that my future self still finds things humorous
Hey there to my future self
Greeting my future self
If you forget how to smile
Urging my future self to not lose their joy
I have this to tell you
Wanting to share advice with my future self
Remember it once in awhile
Encouraging my future self to recall the advice occasionally
Ten years ago your past self
Referencing my previous self from a decade ago
Prayed for your happiness
Hoping for my future self's well-being
Please don't lose hope
Requesting my future self not to give up
Oh, oh what a pair me and you
Reflecting on how similar my current self and future self are
Put here to feel joy, not be blue
Reminding myself and my future self that our purpose is to be happy
Sad times and bad times see them through
Encouraging myself and my future self to persevere through tough times
Soon we will know if it's for real what we both feel
Anticipating if our current emotions will stand the test of time
Though I can't know for sure how things worked out for us
Admitting uncertainty about our future
No matter how hard it gets, you have to realize:
Acknowledging that difficult times may arise for my future self
We weren't put on this earth to suffer and cry
Asserting that our purpose is not to only experience negative emotions
We were made for being happy
Reaffirming that our purpose is to be joyful
So...be happy...for me, for you...please.
Asking my future self to be happy for both of us
Contributed by Jacob K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.