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.

[4] Feeder and Gil Norton recorded the bulk of Pushing the Senses in 2004 at Abbey Road Studios, London, England.

[5] Ken Nelson recorded "Frequency" in Liverpool with the band, as Grant felt he could capture the organic sound.

[2] He also stated that Feeder are a band, and even though he writes all the songs, he makes sure drummer Mark Richardson and bass player Taka Hirose have their say in the process of their creation.

[2] "Tumble and Fall", the third track on Pushing the Senses, was chosen as its lead single, because their European label Play it Again Sam (PIAS), were getting more involved with the band, believing the song would be a crossover to make them successful in Europe after touring with Coldplay in 2003.

[11] A petition was set up to release the song as a single,[11] and was also included alongside album track "Tender" on the end credits of the European dub of the Russian film Night Watch.

[1] Grant later claimed that "Morning Life" was a track many of the band's fans started to "pick up on" after buying the album,[1] and also said "another version is a possibility".

[1] "Pilgrim Soul", the eighth track on the album was described by Grant as its most heaviest and said it will appeal to older fans.

[1] He said the album needed the track to "give it a lift at the end of the record" and that the "sing-a-long chorus" is what makes a song work.

In a review for Dotmusic, Chris Heath said that "Feeder are in danger of being a schizophrenic band, unrecognisable from their once 'trademark' sound and prone to style swings on a whim.

"[15] The Guardian said the album was a "kind of emotional aural soup that will baffle the spikier members of their original punky fanbase".

[17] However, Q magazine reviewer Paul Brannigan was impressed, and wrote that the album could "Finally establish Feeder as major league players".

[2] In a 2008 interview with Kerrang!, Grant expressed his annoyance with the Coldplay comparisons, in which he said they were only made because he played a piano on the album.

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".

[22] 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".

Both have Coldplay inspired soaring vocals and catchy melodies, but a little of their lyrical hand wringing seems to have crept in too", and later said "That's not to say the album is bad, because there is a lot to like here.

'Pilgrim Soul' and title track 'Pushing The Senses' see Feeder thrash furiously away at their instruments, which should appease those who prefer their earlier work".

[30] Although the overall performance of the album was less than what was anticipated by Echo,[31] it is still alongside The Singles their most successful release in terms of peak chart position.