Music to Level Up Your Day: NieR

March 08, 2022

I don't know much about musical theory, nor am I a musically inclined person. However, I do love to listen to video game soundtracks. Who doesn't? They can be a powerful listening experience in their own right, or be as evocative as the scores composed for film. Each of these posts will feature music tracks from a single game title, or series/franchise in some rare cases.

Composer: Keiichi Okabe

Singer: Emi Evans (Emiko Rebecca Evans)

North American Release Date: April 2010

NieR is set in a distant future, where humanity's unchecked technological achievements have reduced the few remaining humans to a medieval existence. They manage to eke out a living in a harsh and unforgiving landscape, filled with strange and twisted creatures known as "Shades". The eponymous protagonist, Nier, scours the land in search of a cure for his daughter, who has been infected by the "Black Scrawl", a deadly disease. Nier is intent on saving his daughter... no matter the cost.

Four different soundtracks were released for NIER:

• NieR Gestalt & Replicant Original Soundtrack
• NieR Gestalt & Replicant 15 Nightmares & Arrange Tracks
• Piano Collections Nier Gestalt & Replicant
• NieR Tribute Album -echo-

I own a physical copy of the first three, which each feature a different grimoire from the game on the cover art. Game director Yoko Taro requested that NIER’s soundtrack use a lot of vocal work, and of the 43 tracks included on the original soundtrack, only 9 do not have any vocals. Emi Evans, the singer, was asked to write her own lyrics in futuristic languages (they're basically gibberish). Evans wrote songs in versions of Gaelic, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, English and Japanese. She then altered the words, trying to imagine what they would sound like after 1000 years of drifting.

Ashes of Dreams | (Credits Song)