"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Phaedra" by Tangerine Dream. Dramatic quiet-to-loud arc, stormy climax. dense layered composition, atmospheric complexity. Mood: introspective, spacious, transcendent. Visual style: 1970s editorial print aesthetic, sun-faded color. 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."
Phaedra
Tangerine Dream
Phaedra (1974)
Real momentum, more energetic than 81% of our 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for dinner.
90
BPM
Phaedra by Tangerine Dream is 90 BPM — Andante (walking pace).
Half-time 45 BPM · Double-time 180 BPM · released 1974
Fan image for "Phaedra"
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: immersive electronic soundscapes
Recommended for: deep listening emotional release meditation
An up, driving track. This one has a big quiet-to-loud range changing direction here and there, over a intricate texture. An all-instrumental build, no vocal to follow, at an unhurried mid-tempo. Hard to predict, it holds your attention. On our 19,209-song scale, it reads more energetic than 81% of everything we’ve measured.
Cultural Context
A landmark in electronic music history.
Listening Prompt
Encourages a sense of exploration.
What to Expect
Rated intense, this 1974 piece from the album Phaedra earns that classification through several converging measurements. Dynamic range is 8, a wide arc requiring deliberate volume calibration — what sounds appropriately loud during the quieter passages will feel substantially louder when the piece expands. Texture is complex, meaning multiple elements weave across each other in shifting relationships, and predictability is low — the structure does not follow a conventional form that a listener can anticipate after one pass. Sudden changes are moderate: shifts occur and can arrive without much warning. At 90 BPM, the tempo provides a grounding pulse beneath the unpredictability. Being fully instrumental removes vocal elements as a trigger source entirely. Misophonia data was not captured for this recording. The intensity rating is real but not punishing — the spacious and transcendent mood classifications suggest immersion rather than assault. Best for deep listening or meditative sessions where unpredictability reads as expansive rather than threatening.
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Moods: introspective, spacious, transcendent
Intense — what to expect
"Phaedra" is in our intense band.
At least one of our five sensory dimensions crosses the threshold that means "this can be a lot." Most commonly: instrumental or complex texture, or a dynamic range of 8/10. The full breakdown is below. If you arrived here looking for a calmer alternative, our use-case verdicts section flags songs with similar mood but lower intensity.
How this song sits on each sensory axis
A dynamic range of 8/10 is in the upper band of our library. This song has a significant quiet-to-loud arc. For sensory-sensitive listening, set the opening volume well below your comfortable top-end; the climax will land harder than the intro suggests.
Sudden changes: present. This song uses surprise as a feature. For focus or background listening, it's likely to pull your attention away; for active listening, that's often the point.
Texture: complex.
Predictability is low — this song does not follow standard verse-chorus form closely, and rewards active listening more than passive listening.
Vocal style: instrumental.
Where this sits in Tangerine Dream's catalog
We have 17 songs from Tangerine Dream in the library. Of those, 8 are rated Safe, 8 Moderate, and 1 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 8/10 sits above the artist average of 5.6, making it the #1 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
1974 context
Released in 1974. We have 176 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 1970s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Guides that may help
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Karma Police began as a band in-joke and became one of Radiohead’s defining songs — a queasy meditat…
How fast is "Phaedra"?
90 BPM — Medium (midtempo / pop 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 90 BPM.
When "Phaedra" works, and when it doesn't
Use-case verdicts computed from the song's tempo, dynamics, and sensory profile.
✗
Focus / studying
No — too dynamic or too many surprises. Save for active listening.
✗
Running / workout
No — 90 BPM is too slow for sustained cardio.
✗
Sleep / winding down
No — contains elements that will keep an awake nervous system engaged.
~
Driving / road trip
Maybe — the intensity / sudden changes are fine for solo highway driving but skip for city or rainy-weather driving.
✗
Cooking / dinner background
No — too active to function as background; will pull attention away from what you're doing.
✓
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.
Songs that feel like driving alone at night
A field guide to the songs that only make sense after midnight — the steady, spacious, emotionally-held shape of night-driving music, with t…
I rated every Billie Eilish album by emotional intensity
From bedroom ASMR whispers to walls of distortion — a deep sensory dive into all three Billie Eilish studio albums and what each one actuall…
Why minor keys aren't actually sad — the music theory lie everyone repeats
The major-equals-happy minor-equals-sad rule falls apart in five minutes of real listening. What actually predicts a song's emotional weight…
Why this rating
We rate this song Intense. Our rule is deliberately conservative: any one of high dynamic range, present sudden changes, harsh texture, or a strained/screamed vocal is enough to trigger Intense on its own. Full scoring rubric: methodology.
This song in the Music Studio
61/100 intensity
See how “Phaedra” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
Listen on
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If this one is too much: sensory-overload protection
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Rating last reviewed: 2026-06-20. 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 is one of the more intense things in our library — more energetic than 81% of the 19,209 songs we've measured. Its intensity reading of 61/100 comes from a dynamic range of 8/10, complex texture, moderate 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 blazing intensity: more extreme on that axis than 81% of everything we've measured. At the far opposite end of the library sit the songs built on near-total stillness — steady volume, no surprises, a slow and unhurried pulse — the kind of track this one is the counterpoint to.
Feels almost identical to
Your Hand in Mine — Explosions in the Sky · 98%Raga Bageshree — Ravi Shankar · 95%Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582 — Johann Sebastian Bach · 95%Czardas — Yo-Yo Ma · 95%
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: Allegro from Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 — Yo-Yo Ma
What it’s good for
Sleep0/10
Focus5/10
Workout4/10
Dinner6/10
Party / hype5/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
1974 in context
The 176 songs we’ve measured from 1974 average a dynamic range of 6.4/10. At 8/10, this track is louder and more dynamic than its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Countdown — John ColtraneAfro Blue — John ColtraneSet the Controls for the Heart of the Sun — Pink Floyd
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity61
Dynamics78
Tempo28
Surprise50
Density60
Predictability100
Vocal force0
Trigger load0
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "Phaedra"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "Phaedra" by Tangerine Dream?
"Phaedra" by Tangerine Dream has a tempo of 90 BPM (Andante (walking pace)). At half-time that is 45 BPM, and at double-time 180 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "Phaedra" by Tangerine Dream?
"Phaedra" by Tangerine Dream rates as Intense. Dynamic range 8/10, moderate sudden changes, complex texture, instrumental vocal style. Any one of high dynamic range, present sudden changes, or harsh texture triggers the Intense rating.
How loud is "Phaedra" — what is its dynamic range?
"Phaedra" has a dynamic range of 8/10. Substantial quiet-to-loud arc. Start at a volume well below your top-end; the climax will land harder than the intro suggests.
Does "Phaedra" have sudden or surprising changes?
Yes. "Phaedra" uses surprise as a compositional feature. Expect unsignaled transitions.
What is "Phaedra" best for?
In our library "Phaedra" is recommended for: deep listening, emotional release, meditation. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "Phaedra" released?
"Phaedra" is from 1974, on the album "Phaedra". It appears in our 1970s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "Phaedra"?
We tag "Phaedra" as introspective, spacious, transcendent. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "Phaedra"?
The vocal style is instrumental.
Is "Phaedra" good for running?
Not really — at 90 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.
Is "Phaedra" good for studying?
Only partially. The song's dynamic range (8/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.
Can I use "Phaedra" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Too intense overall.
Should I listen to "Phaedra"?
"Phaedra" is Intense in our ratings — dramatic dynamics, possible sudden changes, or strong vocal or textural energy. Best with intention rather than ambient use. If you are sensory-sensitive, the alternatives section surfaces calmer songs in the same mood family.
Songs with the same DNA
complex 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
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Where to next?
You know how this one feels — now go find the next one.