"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Sour Times" by Portishead. Modest rise and fall. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: contemplative, dreamy, introspective, melancholy, spacious. Visual style: early-1990s alternative aesthetic, weathered film grain. 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."
Easy, low-key calm, gentler than 83% of our 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for focus.
85
BPM
Sour Times by Portishead is 85 BPM — Andante (walking pace).
Half-time 43 BPM · Double-time 170 BPM · released 1994
Fan image for "Sour Times"
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: Melancholic and atmospheric with a slurred vocal delivery that creates an unsettling, otherworldly quality. The descending three-note pattern and minor key establish a dark, clandestine mood.
Misophonia Triggers
Recommended for: anxiety relief deep listening focus meditation relaxation
A trip-hop classic featuring a slowed-down beat, minor key melancholy, and sampled instrumental elements that create a distinctive dark atmosphere.
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Moods: contemplative, dreamy, introspective, melancholy, spacious
Traditions: downtempo, electronic, trip-hop
At a glance
"Sour Times" by Portishead
85 BPM, dynamic range 4/10, layered texture, soft 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 4/10 is within the normal pop-mix band. There is variation between verse and chorus, but it's the kind of variation most listeners encounter routinely.
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 high — the song telegraphs what it will do next. A sensory-sensitive listener can usually guess where it's going without close attention.
Vocal style: soft vocals.
Where this sits in Portishead's catalog
We have 32 songs from Portishead in the library. Of those, 4 are rated Safe, 20 Moderate, and 8 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 4/10 sits below the artist average of 5.8, making it the #24 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from Dummy
We have 9 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans moderate in sensory profile.
- Wandering Star — intense DR 8
- Glory Box — moderate DR 8
- Mysterons — intense DR 6
- Strangers — moderate DR 7
- It Could Be Sweet — moderate DR 6
- It's a Fire — moderate DR 6
- Numb — moderate DR 5
- Roads — safe DR 4
1994 context
Released in 1994. We have 365 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.7/10. This track is quieter / less dynamic than the year average. Explore more from the 1990s.
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 …
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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 "Sour Times"?
85 BPM — Slow (downtempo / ballad)
For running
Too slow for most running; good for warm-up walks or cool-down.
For workouts
Warm-up, cool-down, yoga, stretching.
For daily life
Morning coffee, deep work, commute wind-down.
Browse more songs at 85 BPM.
When "Sour Times" 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
No — 85 BPM is too slow for sustained cardio.
✗
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
Yes — this is a song for actively feeling what you came to feel, not for background.
Related reading
Editorial guides that cover this song's use cases, moods, or artist.
Every Portishead album ranked by how much dread it leaves in the room
Portishead made only three albums in fourteen years — and each one rearranges something in your chest. A sensory deep-dive into trip-hop's m…
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
Metal is some of the most predictable music you'll ever hear — and that's not an insult
Counterintuitive but measurable: heavy metal scores high on predictability and structural consistency. Here's why that makes it uniquely use…
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
27/100 intensity
See how “Sour Times” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
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Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-13. 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
This sits near the calm end of everything we've measured — gentler than 83% of the 19,209 songs in the library. Its intensity reading of 27/100 comes from a dynamic range of 4/10, layered texture, mild shifts, and soft vocals. Relatively few songs occupy this exact corner of the spectrum.
What makes it unusual
What stands out most about this song is an unusually steady, even volume: more extreme on that axis than 97% 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
Maracas Song — Galaxie 500 · 94%Color Bars — Elliott Smith · 93%Choo Choo — Mac DeMarco · 91%The Day Before You Came — ABBA · 90%
Closest matches by feel across all 19,209 measured songs — not by genre or artist, by how they actually move.
Dial the feeling up or down
Same feeling, bigger: Musique Non Stop — Kraftwerk
What it’s good for
Sleep8/10
Focus10/10
Workout1/10
Dinner7/10
Party / hype1/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
1994 in context
The 365 songs we’ve measured from 1994 average a dynamic range of 6.7/10. At 4/10, this track is gentler and steadier than its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity27
Dynamics33
Tempo25
Surprise25
Density33
Predictability0
Vocal force25
Trigger load50
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "Sour Times"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "Sour Times" by Portishead?
"Sour Times" by Portishead has a tempo of 85 BPM (Andante (walking pace)). At half-time that is 43 BPM, and at double-time 170 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "Sour Times" by Portishead?
"Sour Times" by Portishead rates as Moderate intensity. Dynamic range 4/10, mild sudden changes, layered texture. Moderate is the default for well-produced music with real arc but no surprise elements.
How loud is "Sour Times" — what is its dynamic range?
"Sour Times" has a dynamic range of 4/10. Within normal pop-mix variation. Movement between verse and chorus but nothing dramatic.
Does "Sour Times" have sudden or surprising changes?
"Sour Times" has mild sudden changes — one or two transitions worth knowing about, but they are musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
What is "Sour Times" best for?
In our library "Sour Times" is recommended for: anxiety relief, deep listening, focus, meditation, relaxation. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "Sour Times" released?
"Sour Times" is from 1994, on the album "Dummy". It appears in our 1990s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "Sour Times"?
We tag "Sour Times" as contemplative, dreamy, introspective, melancholy, spacious. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "Sour Times"?
The vocal style is soft vocals.
Is "Sour Times" good for running?
Not really — at 85 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.
Is "Sour Times" good for studying?
Only partially. The song's dynamic range (4/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.
Can I use "Sour Times" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Contains transitions that will wake you up.
Should I listen to "Sour Times"?
"Sour Times" 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.