Kojima Is a Genius: How ‘Death Stranding’ Director Helped Icelandic Musicians

Among the many positive things Death Stranding has given us, its music is one of the best. Famed game designer and director Hideo Kojima was able to win the hearts of not only gamers, but musicians as well. It was so nice to see giants of music such as Bring Me The Horizon, Major Lazer, The Neighbourhood and more release music written especially for the game. It’s like two worlds colliding, isn’t it?

But what about those who helped Death Stranding to gain popularity right from the beginning? I’m talking about Low Roar, the Icelandic band whose single “I’ll Keep Coming” opened up Death Stranding’s debut trailer.

Before they became famous, the band was not doing so well. Most of their music was written on a laptop in the vocalist’s kitchen, and they were desperately struggling to find listeners.

Everything changed when they got an email from Sony offering them money to license the song. But Sony would not even tell them what it was going to be used for, lead singer Ryan Karazija revealed to VG24/7 this week. Once the song appeared in Death Stranding’s debut trailer, the band started growing in popularity.

Kojima discovered Low Roar when he heard them playing on the radio during a trip in Iceland. The decision to use them in Death Stranding was simple after that.

“I thought Low Roar’s music would match this harsh but beautiful and pure environmental setting,” Kojima told Eurogamer. “I also felt somewhat of a connection to Low Roar and the game, the matching of Low Roar’s acoustic but digital futuristic sound and the concept of Death Stranding.”

Unfortunately, the members of Low Roar have not actually had time to play Death Stranding yet due to their busy tour schedule. But Karazija revealed they have had dinner with Hideo Kojima twice and described him as “a lovely man.”

What is your favorite track from the Death Stranding OST? Let us know in the comments below!