"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "You Are a Tourist" by Death Cab for Cutie. Noticeable climb from quiet to loud. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: hopeful, reflective, uplifting. Visual style: contemporary editorial aesthetic. Painterly, grainy film texture, muted palette with strategic accent colors. The composition should read left-to-right like a timeline — calm on one side, intensifying toward the other. Strictly no faces, no text, no logos, no literal objects, no band imagery. Pure color-field abstraction with emotional weight. 16:9 editorial format."
Balanced energy, right in the middle of 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for focus.
118
BPM
You Are a Tourist by Death Cab for Cutie is 118 BPM — Moderato (moderate).
Half-time 59 BPM · Double-time 236 BPM · released 2011
Fan image for "You Are a Tourist"
An abstract illustration of what this song feels like. Each image is built from a prompt — the text description fed to the image generator. Listeners submit their own prompts, upvote the ones that fit best, and the top-voted prompt drives the next regeneration. After 100 image votes, we make a new picture.
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Song DNA
Notes: The song features a building arrangement from quiet, melancholic verses to an uplifting, expansive chorus with echoing guitars and steady rhythms, creating a sense of emotional release without overwhelming intensity. Production is crisp and ambient, with smooth transitions that avoid harsh edges.
Misophonia Triggers
Recommended for: anxiety relief emotional release focus
An optimistic indie rock track with affirming lyrics about embracing inner desires and finding new homes, driven by snappy beats, new-wavy guitars, and Ben Gibbard's dynamic vocals.
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The right gear changes everything.
Moods: hopeful, reflective, uplifting
Traditions: ambient pop, indie rock
At a glance
"You Are a Tourist" by Death Cab for Cutie
118 BPM, dynamic range 6/10, layered texture, dynamic vocals. Sits in the middle band — neither built for stillness nor pitched at workout intensity. Whether it works for a given moment depends more on mood and lyrical content than on the acoustic profile. The full sensory breakdown follows.
How this song sits on each sensory axis
A dynamic range of 6/10 means this song moves. Expect a real volume climb between quiet sections and the loudest part of the arrangement — enough that you may want to set the initial volume below where you'd normally land.
Sudden changes: mild. There are one or two transitions worth knowing about, though they're musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
Texture is layered — a full arrangement with clear separation between parts.
Predictability is medium — conventional structure overall, with one or two moments that deviate from what you'd expect.
Vocal style: dynamic vocals.
Where this sits in Death Cab for Cutie's catalog
We have 20 songs from Death Cab for Cutie in the library. Of those, 9 are rated Safe, 11 Moderate, and 0 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 6/10 sits above the artist average of 5.3, making it the #11 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
2011 context
Released in 2011. We have 373 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.4/10. This track is about average than the year average. Explore more from the 2010s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Guides that may help
Why Post-Rock Works for Focus — The Logic of Slow Builds
Why post-rock holds attention that slides off everything else: long builds, few sudden changes, and …
How to Build the Perfect Focus Playlist for Work — A Sensory-Rated Approach
How to Build the Perfect Focus Playlist for Work — A Sensory-Rated Approach — A guide for sensory-se…
Jazz for Anxiety Relief: Which Subgenres Help and Which Overwhelm
Jazz for Anxiety Relief: Which Subgenres Help and Which Overwhelm — A guide for sensory-sensitive li…
How fast is "You Are a Tourist"?
118 BPM — Upbeat (dance-pop / running warm-up)
For running
Too slow for most running; good for warm-up walks or cool-down.
For workouts
Steady cardio, power walking, light weights.
For daily life
Cooking, casual listening, cleaning, dinner music.
Browse more songs at 118 BPM.
When "You Are a Tourist" works, and when it doesn't
Use-case verdicts computed from the song's tempo, dynamics, and sensory profile.
~
Focus / studying
Maybe — fine for routine work, but the mid-song changes may pull attention during deep focus.
~
Running / workout
Maybe — at 118 BPM this is more warm-up or cool-down pace than peak-effort running.
✗
Sleep / winding down
No — contains elements that will keep an awake nervous system engaged.
✓
Driving / road trip
Yes — predictable enough for safe driving attention, interesting enough to stay engaged.
✓
Cooking / dinner background
Yes — sits in the background without demanding attention.
~
Emotional release / catharsis
Not really — it's pleasant but doesn't hit hard enough for cathartic listening.
Related reading
Editorial guides that cover this song's use cases, moods, or artist.
Why Post-Rock Works for Focus — The Logic of Slow Builds
Why post-rock holds attention that slides off everything else: long builds, few sudden changes, and enough happening to occupy the part of y…
Jazz for Anxiety Relief: Which Subgenres Help and Which Overwhelm
Jazz for Anxiety Relief: Which Subgenres Help and Which Overwhelm — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on musiciwant.com
I Listened to Every Radiohead Album Through a Sensory Lens — Here's What I Found
Radiohead's nine albums analyzed through dynamic range, texture, and emotional intensity — from Pablo Honey's raw stadium rock to A Moon Sha…
Why this rating
We rate this song Moderate because it falls between our Safe and Intense thresholds on at least one dimension. Moderate is the default for most well-produced music that has real arc but no surprise elements. Full rubric: methodology.
This song in the Music Studio
49/100 intensity
See how “You Are a Tourist” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
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For focused listening
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Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-15. Reviewed by the Music I Want editorial team against the documented methodology.
Think this rating is wrong? Contact the editor — every message is read and ratings get revised.
By the numbers: how this song compares
Computed from this song’s place among the 19,209 songs we’ve measured.
Where it sits in 19,000 songs
On our 19k-song scale this lands in the middle band — more energetic than 55% of songs, calmer than the other 45%. Its intensity reading of 49/100 comes from a dynamic range of 6/10, layered texture, mild shifts, and dynamic vocals. It shares this stretch of the spectrum with thousands of other tracks, so the finer fingerprint below is what really separates it.
What makes it unusual
What stands out most about this song is an unusually steady, even volume: more extreme on that axis than 79% of everything we've measured. At the far opposite end of the library sit the songs built on full chaos — sudden changes, huge quiet-to-loud swings, and relentless energy — the kind of track this one is the counterpoint to.
Feels almost identical to
Smile — Pearl Jam · 99%Welcome to New York — Taylor Swift · 99%Big Wave — Pearl Jam · 99%Taking Off — The Cure · 99%
Closest matches by feel across all 19,209 measured songs — not by genre or artist, by how they actually move.
What it’s good for
Sleep4/10
Focus7/10
Workout3/10
Dinner7/10
Party / hype5/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
2011 in context
The 372 songs we’ve measured from 2011 average a dynamic range of 6.4/10. At 6/10, this track is right in line with its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity49
Dynamics56
Tempo43
Surprise25
Density33
Predictability50
Vocal force75
Trigger load13
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "You Are a Tourist"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "You Are a Tourist" by Death Cab for Cutie?
"You Are a Tourist" by Death Cab for Cutie has a tempo of 118 BPM (Moderato (moderate)). At half-time that is 59 BPM, and at double-time 236 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "You Are a Tourist" by Death Cab for Cutie?
"You Are a Tourist" by Death Cab for Cutie rates as Moderate intensity. Dynamic range 6/10, mild sudden changes, layered texture. Moderate is the default for well-produced music with real arc but no surprise elements.
How loud is "You Are a Tourist" — what is its dynamic range?
"You Are a Tourist" has a dynamic range of 6/10. Noticeable climb from quiet sections to loudest point. Set opening volume slightly lower than your preferred peak.
Does "You Are a Tourist" have sudden or surprising changes?
"You Are a Tourist" has mild sudden changes — one or two transitions worth knowing about, but they are musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
What is "You Are a Tourist" best for?
In our library "You Are a Tourist" is recommended for: anxiety relief, emotional release, focus. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "You Are a Tourist" released?
"You Are a Tourist" is from 2011, on the album "Codes and Keys". It appears in our 2010s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "You Are a Tourist"?
We tag "You Are a Tourist" as hopeful, reflective, uplifting. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "You Are a Tourist"?
The vocal style is dynamic vocals.
Is "You Are a Tourist" good for running?
Not really — at 118 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.
Is "You Are a Tourist" good for studying?
Only partially. The song's dynamic range (6/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.
Can I use "You Are a Tourist" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Contains transitions that will wake you up.
Should I listen to "You Are a Tourist"?
"You Are a Tourist" is Moderate intensity — fine for most listeners, but with enough dynamic activity that it works best as active listening rather than background.
Songs with the same DNA
layered texture, similar intensity — across any genre or era.
Safer alternatives with a similar feel
These songs share similar moods but with a gentler sensory profile.
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Where to next?
You know how this one feels — now go find the next one.