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.
Waiting for You
Akira Yamaoka Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Your words echo inside me
You said "You long for me, that you love me"
And I want to see you too, feels just like I'm falling
Is there nothing I can do, wonder if you hear my calling
I'm here and waiting for you
Where are you, I can't find you
I'll wait forever for you
Mom's gone to Heaven now
Why won't she come back down
Does she have someone she loves more than me
I thought I could love you better, we were always together
If we took some time apart you would finally know my heart
I'm here and waiting for you
Where are you, I can't find you
I'm here and waiting for you
I'll wait forever for you
I fell in Love with you and now you're gone
There's nothing left within my lonely room without you
I'm here and waiting for you
Where are you, I can't find you
I'm here and waiting for you
I'll wait forever for you
The opening lines of the song "Your gentle voice I hear, your words echo inside me" suggest a longing to be with someone who is not there. The singer then reflects on the fact that this person once told them "You long for me, that you love me," which lingers in their mind even though this person is now absent. This longing is so strong that the singer feels like they are falling for the person, but they wonder if their feelings are reciprocated, asking "Is there nothing I can do, wonder if you hear my calling".
The second verse shifts focus to the singer's mother who has passed away and gone to heaven. The line "Why won't she come back down" expresses the pain of losing someone close and the desire to have them back in their life. The singer then questions whether their mother loved someone else more than them, which reveals the deep insecurities and fears of abandonment. The line "I thought I could love you better, we were always together" shows that these insecurities are also present in their relationships with others. The singer seems to suggest that time apart may have helped the other person see their heart and understand their feelings, but now they are alone and waiting for their return.
Overall, the song portrays a deep sense of loss, longing and unrequited love. It shows how the memories of those we have lost, as well as those we long for, can linger inside us and haunt us for a long time.
Line by Line Meaning
Your gentle voice I hear
I can still hear your tender voice in my mind.
Your words echo inside me
The words you spoke to me linger in my thoughts.
You said "You long for me, that you love me"
You expressed that you are yearning for my love.
And I want to see you too, feels just like I'm falling
I crave to be with you and it feels like I'm falling in love all over again.
Is there nothing I can do, wonder if you hear my calling
I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to make you hear my plea for love.
I'm here and waiting for you
I'm patiently waiting for you to come back to me.
Where are you, I can't find you
I'm desperately searching for you, but you are nowhere to be found.
I'll wait forever for you
I'll wait endlessly for you to return to me.
Mom's gone to Heaven now
My mother has passed away and is now in heaven.
Why won't she come back down
I wish my mother would come back to me.
Does she have someone she loves more than me
I question if my mother loved someone more than me.
I thought I could love you better, we were always together
I believed that I could love you more than anyone else because we have always been close.
If we took some time apart you would finally know my heart
If we separated for a while, you would understand how deeply I love you.
I fell in Love with you and now you're gone
I fell in love with you, but now you have left me.
There's nothing left within my lonely room without you
My room is empty without you and I feel lonely.
Contributed by Grace W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.