Songs Like Cities in Dust by Siouxsie
By Dan Cohen · Published 2026-09-05
Cities in Dust reads intensity 49, dynamic range 6, 120 BPM, layered, dynamic vocals, mild shifts. Tagged cathartic and heavy. The records that carry that exact pairing nearest to it are not post-punk at all.
Two Billie Holiday recordings
- Billie’s Blues — Billie Holiday. Intensity 49 — identical to the seed — dynamic range 7, 80 BPM. Cathartic and heavy, like Siouxsie.
- Stormy Weather — Billie Holiday. Intensity 48, dynamic range 7, 65 BPM.
Both are slower than the seed and travel slightly further. What they share with it is force held under control — a voice carrying more weight than the arrangement around it, which is a fair description of Siouxsie Sioux as well.
The rest of the cathartic-and-heavy band
- Burn the Witch — Radiohead. Intensity 53, dynamic range 7, 124 BPM — closest on tempo, and the most intense here.
- Trouble — Ray LaMontagne. Intensity 45, dynamic range 8, 78 BPM.
- Gotta Serve Somebody — Bob Dylan. Intensity 45, dynamic range 6, 78 BPM.
Sharing heavy alone, all at exactly 49
- Hurricane — Kanye West. Dynamic range 7, 72 BPM.
- None Shall Pass — Aesop Rock. Dynamic range 6, 70 BPM, spoken word.
- Ndiaye — Youssou N’Dour. Dynamic range 6, 115 BPM.
- Keep the Customer Satisfied — Simon & Garfunkel. Dynamic range 6, 115 BPM.
Cities in Dust appears on Siouxsie and the Banshees’ 1986 album Tinderbox. Figures are our own measurements, read from the public API at build time. The genre and era spread is a consequence of measuring sound rather than style — it is not a claim that these artists resemble each other in any other way. No lyrics are reproduced.