Pushing The Senses - Songs

Songs

"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. 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. In an interview with Feederweb, Grant said of the song: "Again this is about the ups and downs of life. Its about life in general and how you deal with it. It covers the journey of life and how you have to take the ups with the downs. I wasn’t going to record this song. It took me a long time to finish it, to be happy with it, because the song went through various stages. I wasn’t sure if we really needed a tune like that on the album. But I decided to go to the studio to record an acoustic version just to see what happened and that’s how the song started. It was a completely one take vocal, live with the acoustic guitar and we built everything else around it. It is an acoustic track that grew into what it is now. So that was the only song that we recorded like that on the album, so it is a bit different for that reason and is probably why it has an organic feel to it".

The second single, "Feeling a Moment", received a positive review from Q magazine, in which the song was compared to "Beautiful Day" by U2, in which Paul Brannigan stated that the song "Has the optimistic soaring feel of U2's Beautiful Day...". It charted at number thirteen in the UK Singles Chart, and was originally going to be the album's first single.

"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. Grant Nicholas described it as "One of the most upbeat songs on the album", while comparing it to "Classic Feeder". This was followed-up in November with "Shatter / Tender", in which "Shatter" was a b-side on "Tumble and Fall" and eventually left off the album after the record company felt it would not fit in with the rest of the tracks, despite Grant Nicholas' protests but was included on the Japanese release. A petition was set up to release the song as a single, 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. "Tender" was described by Grant as "a healing song" and was written on the piano.

"Bitterglass" was one of the earlier songs written for the album, while being one of Grant's favourite songs it is also seen by him as one of the darker songs on the record, and refers to the events of Jon Lee's suicide although Grant noted that it is also uplifting and gives an optimistic feeling in its chorus, while also giving a hypnotic feel alongside stating that the piano in the verses gives "a kind of haunting melody". Other tracks on the album that did not see a single release such as "Morning Life" was a track Grant wanted to be "very atmospheric", and "something that would be great when you are driving around in your car", while also wanting it to have a "cinematic intro". Grant later claimed that "Morning Life" was a track many of the bands fans started to "pick up on" after buying the album, and also said "another version is a possibility". "Pilgrim Soul", the eighth track on the album was described by Grant as its most heaviest and said it will appeal to older fans. 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. The chorus was explained as positive and the verses as dark, with the answer to the verses revealed in the chorus.

The album closes with two similarly sounding tracks titled "Pain on Pain" and "Dove Grey Sands". Grant stated he wanted the album to end so the listener wanted the album to last longer, but also leave the listener with the feeling that "you have been on a really nice journey" and that it "felt like the perfect outro". It also "evolves round the acoustic guitar". "Pain on Pain" on the other hand was seen as "quite a different track" for the band and "felt very uplifting". The music has no guitars in it but "just a few little odd bits" and was also described by Grant as having "a real sell out vocal".