When playing “Nier”, this years new action adventures game from Square ,you cannot mistake haunting soundtrack  that almost sounds french in origin. You would be right in this assessment. Working with the famed composer Keiichi Okabe to create “a futuristic version of the French lyrics”  is the artist Emi Evans. The soundtrack enhances the game to artistic level of drama felt in games like Lost Odyssey, composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

Emi Evans is a British freelance singer, composer and songwriter who has been living in Tokyo since 2000. London born and Nottingham bred with a Japanese mum and English dad, Emi grew up playing the “cello, singing in the church and writing songs on the piano”.  At 16 she was scouted by a visiting Japanese Sony producer for her song writing and Emi’s confidence in her to dream to become a professional musician, was given a terrific boost. To read more about here please stop in Emi Evans Official Website.

This is great interview that has been translated about her work on Nier:

DA : How did you joined this project ?

EE : The very first time I touched the world of video games was in 2007. Through a friend of a friend I was introduced to the fabulous composer Norihiko Hibino and he asked me to write lyrics and sing for Sekaiju no Meikyu Super Arrange Version 1 and 2 (Etrian Odyssey). This was the first time for my name to go out online in the credits and because I was too shy to put my real name out, I took my middle name and called myself « Rebecca Evans ». It wasn`t until I saw all the kind response my voice was getting and realized that « Rebecca Evans » was actually quite a famous Welsh opera singer that I decide to use my real name on the next project! In between recording Sekaiju 1 and 2, through one of my music agencies, I played cello on a session recording for Time Hollow (but I was so out of practice that I played out of tune a lot and kept getting told off-it was terrible!)

Then in summer 2008 I went to a friends leaving party and got chatting with the DJ there who seemed really cool, so I gave him a copy of my CD and we swapped contacts. It just so happened that his friend Mio was the assistant at Monaca and when she asked him if he knew any native English singers, he passed on my number to her. I was originally contacted my Mio because the boss and composer Mr Okabe needed a singer for his latest project « Dance Dance Revolution » but after Mr Okabe heard my CD, he told me that my voice wasn`t suitable for this particular project, but he`d keep me in mind in case something more appropriate came up. And that was how, a few months later I was asked to sing for NieR!

DA : NieR’s OST was composed by Keiichi Okabe. How did you coordinated your work with him ?

EE : It was really very simple and efficient the way that we worked together. Mr Okabe would send me very rough demo tracks of the songs, 2 or 3 at a time and ask me « please write French sounding lyrics for this song » or « this song should sound a bit like Gaelic » So I would write the lyrics in my room at home and then go to his studio (which was just a 40 minute train ride away) and record as much as I could.

Mr Okabe was always there at the recordings and would give me as much extra direction as he could. For example he would tell me what sort of scenery would be showing during each particular song and what sort of emotion he wanted me to convey. And at the times when even Mr Okabe wasn`t quite sure what was going on during the songs or how he wanted me to sing, he`d just let me sing my own interpretation and he`d say- »Yes! That`s it! » or « Ooh sort of, but maybe try singing more intensely it that bit.. »

There was a lot of guessing and bouncing ideas off each other involved and sometimes the arrangement would`ve changed and Mr Okabe would say- »Sorry, actually I need an extra verse and chorus here » so mid recording I would have to sit down, hurriedly write an new chunk of lyrics and record them right away.

We continued in this fashion for about 6 months!

DA : NieR’s story unfolds in an alternative future on our planet, and the OST lyrics were composed in alien languages. How was this point decided ?

EE : Because NieRs story takes place in such an alternative future, it would`ve been too close to home and normality had the lyrics been in any familiar language. At first I was just asked to write lyrics in an « alien » sounding language (and this was when I wrote the first lyrics for « Song of the Ancients » which is just a jumble of all the languages I have ever heard, all mixed up) but after that it was decided that because of the futuristic element of the game, it would make most sense if my lyrics were also futuristic versions of our languages today.

DA : You drew your inspiration from various actual languages to compose the lyrics. Did you worked from a linguistic or a musical point of view ? Can you describe your work ?

EE : I worked mostly linguistically and a little musically I guess. As I mentioned earlier, for each track, I was given instructions to write the lyrics in a particular pseudo language. For example with « Kaine » I was asked to write in new style Gaelic. I researched on the internet and listened to lots of Gaelic lesson videos and Gaelic songs. I listened over and over and even wrote down passages in the language, just to help me absorb its rhythms and flow as much as possible. Then it was just a matter of fitting similar sounds around the melodies. I tried to imitate each language as closely as possible, while at the same time choosing vowel and consonant sounds which I felt would be easiest and most appropriate to sing on each particular melody. Because I was generally sent the tracks 2 or 3 at a time with a very short deadline I would often feel so dazed and confused with a jumble of different made up languages going round my head!

DA : Do you think using pure tones can establish an other level of emotion communication than classic language ?

EE : Yes, in my experience I definitely think so. When we use real language, we have both the meaning of the words and the tone of our voices to help express our feelings (and sometimes the words we chose can get in the way of showing how we really feel!), but when the meaning of the words is stripped away completely, we must make up for that by pouring extra emotions into the way we use our voices and by using the soft or harsh sounds and tones to our advantage.

Our way of communication ceases to be intellectual and has to become much purer. This way, especially in singing, we can communicate our emotion to anyone, no matter what language they speak.

With real language, our communication is often on a mostly intellectual level-we have to think and use our brains. But by using only sounds and tones, we need not worry about « thinking » any more and can communicate on a deeper emotional level- we become free to just « feel ».

DA : You said on your website that you would have liked to revive dying or semi-forgotten languages. Is it an aesthetic or a patrimony concern ?

EE : This a bit of both actually! I have always loved languages, especially the more more obscure, exotic sounding ones and have always thought that singing in one of these languages would be a fascinating challenge. At the beginning of this project, I was told that the main point was for me to sing in a language which was not recognizable to most people and that sounded very « other-worldly ».

I`d originally thought that rather than take the time to invent lots of my own languages, it would be much more satisfying and fun for me to sing in some of these « real » semi died out languages-I could add a real authentic and exotic quality to the game and also by doing this, I could bring publicity to these language and maybe help a little to revive them! However, I quickly realized that given the super last minute time frame and lack of resources, I was being far too ambitious!

If I ever get the chance to work on a similar project again, reviving a dying out language will definitely be one of my top priorities!

DA : Were you told about the script and plot twists when you started working ?

EE : At the beginning, I was told that NieR was a very dark plot with no happy ending and was shown a really sad scene with Devola and Popola, but apart from this, I was told nothing about the script and I had to work out the basic plot just from what I could find about NieR on the internet! Since the game was released, I have been checking a lot of the online media and have more or less pieced together the general story but I am still really clueless about a lot of the characters and twists. I`m hoping to persuade one of my gamer friends to play the game for me, so I can finally see what NieR is all about!

DA : Do you consider working on an soundtrack differently that working on an album ? Is the work the same ?

EE : Technically, the work itself is the same for me. With both, I sing using as much sensitivity as I can and just try to create the required atmosphere and emotion with my voice and lay down a good solid track.

But what is going on in my mind as I sing is very different.

The difference is that with an album, everything is about the music-the final product is the recorded sound and how the listener feels will be based purely on what they hear. I feel very responsible for creating that experience through my singing.

Whereas with a soundtrack, most listeners will have first heard the music while playing the game and have already associated each song with whatever emotion they were going through at the time.

During the game, although most of the focus is on the visuals, the music makes a huge difference and enhances the player`s experience by creating another layer of emotion and colour. And likewise, the visuals enrich the music and give the songs a deeper impact. Both visuals and music compliment each other by giving each other an extra dimension.

When I`m working on a soundtrack, I feel that even though I may not know what visuals the song will be used for, this song will nevertheless play a very important role in enriching the players experience. And when the player then listens to the soundtrack, they will associate the music with various scenes and emotions from the game and because of this, their listening experience too will be enriched.

Of course I love working on albums too but through my acquaintance with NieR, I felt that because of this special relationship between the music and visuals, soundtracks hold an extra mysterious and rewarding element. Even when the recording is complete, you know that the final experience has yet to be decided!

DA : On a more personnal note, do you play videogames ?

EE : I am really wretched with computers in general and have no confidence with video games. I had a go sometimes when my friends were playing and got killed within the first few minutes, so these days I prefer to just take a back seat and quietly watch while people play. I really enjoy the amazingly technology behind the visuals of video games today and more than the excitement of the fight scenes, I find it fascinating just to watch the characters moving around in the different landscapes-it all feels so real!

Ooh but I wish so much that I could play NieR! I`ve heard that NieR game is particularly interesting, with all the twists and characters emotions in the plots and I`m sure it would feel very weird but super cool to be playing and hear my own voice in the background-I`d love to know what that`d feel like!

DA : To finish with, can you talk about you future projects ? What can we hope or wish for you ?

EE : Well regarding NieR, it seems that the soundtrack is getting an even better response than we`d expected so I`m hoping that there will be some happy repercussions.I shall be performing some of the songs for a private NieR party just for everyone involved in making the game, but I would really love the chance to perform to the fans as well-that would be fantastic! Also, I `d really like to make a lyrics book with all my mysterious languages. I am the only one in the world right now who knows what the lyrics really are and considering the interest everyone has shown in these lyrics, it just seems mean not to share them!

For the moment, I have no large scale game related projects ahead of me. My next project is actually just to finish the recording of freesscape`s 3rd album, which got put on hold during my work on NieR. I`m hoping that we can have our new album out by the end of this year so please keep an ear out for it!

Thanks to NieR my voice has been heard worldwide for the first time and I`m delighted at the positive attention I seem to be getting. I would love so much to be asked to collaborate with producers and composers not only from Japan but from around the world and to work again on another big creative project like NieR or a movie soundtrack maybe…

But my biggest dream of all is that freesscape`s music too will one day have the opportunity to be heard world wide. It was a wonderful feeling when I realized that my voice and lyrics were being listened to by so many people around the world on the NieR soundtrack, but to have my very own compositions being played-well I cannot think of anything more satisfying! This is definitely my next mission!
Emi Evans, la voix de NieR
From interview conducted at french website by DiXiem Art