"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "House of Cards" by Radiohead. Noticeable climb from quiet to loud. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: dreamy, introspective, melancholy. Visual style: 2000s digital 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.
77
BPM
House of Cards by Radiohead is 77 BPM — Andante (walking pace).
Half-time 39 BPM · Double-time 154 BPM · released 2007
Fan image for "House of Cards"
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.
Does this image fit the song?
0 agree · 0 not quite · 0/100 toward next regeneration
Prompts in the running for the next image
Upvote the prompts you think best capture the song. The top-voted prompt drives the next regeneration. Submit your own at the bottom.
No listener prompts yet. Be the first to submit one below.
How would you describe this song?
One or two sentences. Describe what the song feels like — a scene, a metaphor, a color, a place. Good descriptions are specific and sensory. Your submission becomes a candidate prompt that others can upvote.
Share:
Share on X
Explore from this song · jump to the numbers · FAQ
Find its sonic twinHidden gems like itDial itSongs like thisAll tools
Song DNA
Notes: Mellow and summery with lush, layered vocal harmonies and reverb creating a full, spacious sound; subtle rhythmic elements provide gentle movement without harshness.
Misophonia Triggers
Recommended for: anxiety relief deep listening relaxation
A mellow rock track from In Rainbows featuring Thom Yorke's processed vocals, intricate harmonies, and a Mixolydian progression evoking fragility in relationships.
affiliate links
Hear it the way it was made
The right gear changes everything.
Moods: dreamy, introspective, melancholy
Traditions: alternative rock
At a glance
"House of Cards" by Radiohead
77 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 Radiohead's catalog
We have 78 songs from Radiohead in the library. Of those, 7 are rated Safe, 55 Moderate, and 16 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 6/10 sits below the artist average of 6.6, making it the #59 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from In Rainbows
We have 8 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans moderate in sensory profile.
- Reckoner — moderate DR 8
- Nude — moderate DR 7
- 15 Step — moderate DR 7
- Weird Fishes — moderate DR 7
- Jigsaw Falling Into Place — moderate DR 7
- Bodysnatchers — intense DR 8
- All I Need — intense DR 8
2007 context
Released in 2007. We have 311 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.3/10. This track is about average than the year average. Explore more from the 2000s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Traditions
alternative rock · 991Guides that may help
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 "House of Cards"?
77 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
Sleep, meditation, reading, focus work.
Browse more songs at 77 BPM.
When "House of Cards" 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 — 77 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.
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…
The 10 Calmest Albums Ever Recorded — A low-intensity Listening Guide
The 10 Calmest Albums Ever Recorded — A low-intensity Listening Guide — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on musiciwant.com
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
45/100 intensity
See how “House of Cards” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
Listen on
Spotify and YouTube links go direct to the track when we have the ID; otherwise they search for it. Embed this sensory profile on your site →
Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-14. 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 42% of songs, calmer than the other 58%. Its intensity reading of 45/100 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 a slow, unhurried pace: more extreme on that axis than 86% 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
Novacane — Frank Ocean · 99%Gravity Grave — The Verve · 99%Waves — Kanye West · 99%Someone New — Hozier · 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
Focus8/10
Workout3/10
Dinner8/10
Party / hype3/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
2007 in context
The 311 songs we’ve measured from 2007 average a dynamic range of 6.3/10. 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
Intensity45
Dynamics56
Tempo21
Surprise25
Density33
Predictability50
Vocal force75
Trigger load0
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "House of Cards"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "House of Cards" by Radiohead?
"House of Cards" by Radiohead has a tempo of 77 BPM (Andante (walking pace)). At half-time that is 39 BPM, and at double-time 154 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "House of Cards" by Radiohead?
"House of Cards" by Radiohead 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 "House of Cards" — what is its dynamic range?
"House of Cards" 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 "House of Cards" have sudden or surprising changes?
"House of Cards" has mild sudden changes — one or two transitions worth knowing about, but they are musically resolved rather than surprise-driven.
What is "House of Cards" best for?
In our library "House of Cards" is recommended for: anxiety relief, deep listening, relaxation. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "House of Cards" released?
"House of Cards" is from 2007, on the album "In Rainbows". It appears in our 2000s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "House of Cards"?
We tag "House of Cards" as dreamy, introspective, melancholy. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "House of Cards"?
The vocal style is dynamic vocals.
Is "House of Cards" good for running?
Not really — at 77 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.
Is "House of Cards" 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 "House of Cards" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Contains transitions that will wake you up.
Should I listen to "House of Cards"?
"House of Cards" 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.
What this song means to people
No stories yet. Be the first.
Share what this song means to you
Keep exploring
Where to next?
You know how this one feels — now go find the next one.