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10 songs that feel like Near Light

Matched to Near Light by Ólafur Arnalds on how the music actually moves — intensity, dynamic swing, texture, tempo — not by genre tag. Here's what makes each one a match.

Near Light
The song you love
Near Light
Ólafur Arnalds
safe 21/100 intensity 75 BPM
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Song of the Birds — Yo-Yo Ma safe 60 BPM

A 97% feel-match — carries the same spacious pull and lands at almost exactly the same energy (20/100).

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O Boto — Tom Jobim safe 90 BPM

93% match across our 8 measured dimensions; it lands at almost exactly the same energy (19/100). Same smooth texture.

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King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown — Augustus Pablo safe 80 BPM

Keeps the same spacious pull — lands at almost exactly the same energy (18/100). Measured 96% alike. Nearly the same tempo, too (80 BPM).

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Andromeda — Flying Lotus moderate 85 BPM

Measures 92% the same. It sits a little calmer at 14/100. Same smooth texture.

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Astrakan Cafe — Anouar Brahem safe 60 BPM

A 91% feel-match — carries the same spacious pull and sits a little calmer at 12/100.

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Hours — Tycho safe 90 BPM

90% match across our 8 measured dimensions; it sits a little calmer at 15/100. Same smooth texture.

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We Could Forever — Bonobo safe 90 BPM

Keeps the same spacious pull — sits a little calmer at 15/100. Measured 90% alike.

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Autumn Sequence — Charles Lloyd safe 70 BPM

Measures 99% the same. It lands at almost exactly the same energy (21/100). Same smooth texture.

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Blue Bolero — Abdullah Ibrahim safe 70 BPM

A 99% feel-match — carries the same calm pull and lands at almost exactly the same energy (21/100). Nearly the same tempo, too (70 BPM).

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Weather — Tycho safe 95 BPM

90% match across our 8 measured dimensions; it sits a little calmer at 15/100. Same smooth texture.

Frequently asked

What songs sound like “Near Light” by Ólafur Arnalds?

The closest feel-matches we measure are “Song of the Birds” by Yo-Yo Ma, “O Boto” by Tom Jobim, “King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown” by Augustus Pablo — the top match scores 97% alike. Matching is by how the songs actually move (intensity, dynamic range, texture, tempo, predictability, vocal force), not by genre tag or popularity.

How intense is “Near Light”?

It measures 21/100 on our intensity scale, computed from a dynamic range of 6/10, smooth texture, no sudden shifts, and instrumental. Tempo is 75 BPM.

How do you decide which songs are similar?

Every song in our catalog is measured on 8 dimensions — intensity, dynamic range, tempo, sudden changes, texture, predictability, vocal force and fine sound detail. Similarity is the distance between two songs across those measurements, so matches cross genres and eras. Shared mood tags break ties.

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 87% of the 19,209 songs in the library. Its intensity reading of 21/100 comes from a dynamic range of 6/10, smooth texture, no sudden shifts, and instrumental. Relatively few songs occupy this exact corner of the spectrum.

What makes it unusual

What stands out most about this song is a slow, unhurried pace: more extreme on that axis than 88% 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

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

Sleep8/10
Focus10/10
Workout1/10
Dinner7/10
Party / hype1/10

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

Intensity21
Dynamics56
Tempo19
Surprise0
Density0
Predictability0
Vocal force0
Trigger load0

The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.

Want the single closest match, with every dimension compared?

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