![]() There’s German, Hungarian, Welsh, Japanese, French, and Latin, as well as some extra sounds I thought up myself!” Song of the Ancients – Devola This was the very first piece I recorded for Nier and my first attempt at creating a made-up language. “I was shown a short clip of Devola and Popola and was told that this was to be their theme. The result was the lyrics for ‘Song of the Ancients’. So for my first attempt, I just mashed together sounds from all the languages I had ever experienced. ![]() ![]() “As it was my first time to create a made-up language, I had no set system in place. With the newly upgraded version of Nier Replicant, due out early next year on PS4, it was the perfect time to revisit that soundtrack and her work as singer and lyricist on this unique project. “I have always been fascinated by languages, so this was a very interesting task for me and I welcomed the new challenge.” she wrote in answer to a few questions I had the opportunity to send her over email. If you don’t know what these mysterious words mean, you can’t get side-tracked.”įor Emi, this was the opportunity to try something completely new. “We wanted something that could truly serve as background music. “The reason we went for this mysterious made-up language is because we felt that as game music, having lyrics which you can recognize and understand might distract you from the gameplay,” explained Yoko Taro, the game’s director, when I met him in 2017 ahead of the launch of Nier’s sequel, Nier:Automata. Perhaps one of its most unique details was the made-up lyrics Emi created, suitably named “Chaos Language”, invented to sound as if our modern languages had drifted away for thousands of years to finally become indistinguishable to us. Nier’s soundtrack, composed by Keiichi Okabe and sung by Emi Evans, was incredibly well received and collectively praised. I’m far from the only one forever marked by that evocative score. The soundtrack slowly unravelled before me, finding its rightful place within the delicate story, landscapes and characters of Nier, like pieces of a puzzle finally coming together to reveal the bigger picture. ![]() I knew all the songs by heart by the time I finally dove into the game and I will forever remember the unique experience of discovering where each of these ethereal songs belonged in the Nier universe. I still vividly remember the day a friend recommended it to me and how captivated and intrigued I was from the very first listen. I was enthralled by its soundtrack before I’d even played the game. A quick glance at the numbers on any music streaming service is testament that certain scores haunt players long after they have finished a game. Sometimes, video game music transcends its original purpose as a soundtrack. ![]()
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