Pushing the Senses is the fifth studio album by Welsh rock band Feeder. It was released on Echo, Liberation Music and PIAS on 31 January 2005 in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, while being released on Pony Canyon in Japan on 10 February 2005. Despite mixed reviews, the album was a commercial success, in which it was a top-five album in Feeder's native United Kingdom, and its lead single "Tumble and Fall" was a top-five single. This made the album Feeder's most successful in terms of peak chart position, but did not experience the same chart longevity as predecessor Comfort in Sound, which spent 36 weeks on the UK top 75 chart in comparison to the 15 weeks spent by Pushing the Senses.
The album represented a similar musical style as seen on 2002's Comfort in Sound, and featured more songs written on a piano and also had, as described by frontman Grant Nicholas, more of an "organic" sound than that of the latter. Inspirations were that of John Lennon within some of the songwriting.
Most critics criticised the band's approach to what was described as Keane and Coldplay style music, and "departing" from their trademark sound heard on their first three albums, while Q magazine stated that the album could "finally establish Feeder as major league players".
Recording and production
Pushing the Senses contains music in the same rock styles featured on Feeder's 2002 album Comfort in Sound, but it focuses more on pianos, rather than a string orchestra. Only "Pain on Pain" on the album mainly used strings, including samples from a mellotron. Frontman Grant Nicholas said he did not think the album needed them. alongside stating that he was inspired by artists such as John Lennon within the piano playing and writing the songs.
Feeder and Gil Norton recorded the bulk of Pushing the Senses in 2004 at Abbey Road Studios, in London, England. Ken Nelson recorded "Frequency" in Liverpool with the band, as Grant felt he could capture the organic sound. The single became the band's most successful single release since "Buck Rogers", reaching the top five in the UK. Grant claimed that "Tumble and Fall" is a love song, but can be interpreted in any way.
"Pushing the Senses", the third single, was released in July of the same year, but became the band's lowest charting single since "Day In Day Out" from 1999, when it entered the UK chart at number thirty. but was included on the Japanese release. and was also included alongside album track "Tender" on the end credits of the European dub of the Russian film Night Watch. The single reached number eleven in the UK singles chart.
| rev2 = Classic Rock
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| rev3 = Dotmusic
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| rev4 = Drowned in Sound
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| rev5 = The Guardian
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| rev6 = Kerrang!
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| rev7 = NME
| rev7score = 4/10
| rev8 = Q
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| rev10 = Uncut
| rev10score = Kerrang! were brutal towards the band for all of their reviews, with Ben Meyers referring to them as a "radio friendly unit shifter", including comparisons to a "pastel box". Classic Rock review was more forgiving, considering the album a way "to exorcise the ghosts of the past and ultimately move onward, into a brighter future". ranking it at number thirty-nine with the second single "Feeling a Moment" being voted the ninety-eighth best track of the year by their readers. In December 2005, the album won the "Best Album" category at the Welsh Music Awards, a category considered the pre-successor to the Welsh Music Prize, although this was voted on by online public vote, as opposed to a judging panel.
Chart performance and sales
Pushing the Senses debuted on the UK albums chart, at their highest chart position to date at number two (blocked from the top position by Athlete's Tourist), and sold 42,951 copies. The album remained on the chart for fifteen weeks, Pushing the Senses became Feeder's first release to chart on the top twenty of the European Top 100 Albums, where it peaked at number eleven. it is still alongside The Singles their most successful release in terms of peak chart position.
Track listing
DVD tracks and footage
All DVD tracks and footage appear on the United Kingdom, Japanese and European CD/DVD editions of Pushing the Senses.
- "Tender" (The Depot Sessions)
- "Dove Grey Sands" (The Depot Sessions)
- "Pushing The Senses" (The Depot Sessions)
- "Bitter Glass" (The Depot Sessions)
- "Pushing the Boundaries" (Documentary)
- "Tumble and Fall" : The Video Diaries (includes the video)
- "Victoria" (5.1 Mix and Lyrics Screen)
Personnel
The following people contributed to Pushing the Senses:
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| Europe
| PIAS
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| Australia and New Zealand
| Liberation Music
| LIBCD7156.2
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| Japan
| Pony Canyon
| PCCY-01725
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Charts
{|class="wikitable"
! Charts (2005)
! Peak<br />position
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| Austrian Albums Chart
|align="center"| 62
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| Irish Albums Chart
|align="center"| 16