At the ARIA Music Awards of 2004, the band received six nominations including Best Group, Best Breakthrough Artist – Album and Best Urban Release for The Cat Empire; Engineer of the Year and Producer of the Year for Baldwin's work on the album.

The band successfully applied for an International Pathways grant from the Australia Council for the Arts.

Their track "Two Shoes" was placed on high rotation on BBC Radio 1 in August 2003.

The first single from The Cat Empire, "Hello", was released in October 2003, its music video was Channel V's clip of the week ahead of one by Justin Timberlake.

[2] National radio station, Triple J nominated it as their album of the week in November.

6 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2003, one of the biggest music polls in the world, with other singles, "Days Like These" at No.

It was reviewed in March 2012 by The British Medical Journal's Ray Moynihan who felt the "little known gem" with its title giving "a simple reference to a common progression of chords, but, more deeply, it's a call to celebrate the power of music" had "lyrical musings seem whimsical, but they resonate through a small though growing evidence base.

[8] All tracks are written by Felix Riebl,[9] unless otherwise indicatedAll tracks are written by Felix Riebl,[9] unless otherwise indicatedA different version of The Cat Empire was released in some European countries under the Universal Music Group.