There's a sound reason why The Feeling's debut album made them the most played band on Britain's airwaves in 2006. It helped that Twelve Stops And Home produced several naggingly catchy singles, including Sewn and Never Be Lonely. Mainly, though, it's because their themes of love, loss and friendship remain wholeheartedly universal.

So, when the quintet perform an exclusive live preview of new album Join With Us, the venue throngs with equal proportions of boys and girls, from teens to fortysomethings, many screaming for sharp-cheekboned singer (and sometime M&S model) Dan Gillespie Sells to remove his ruffled shirt. The Feeling just might be the most metrosexual band in Britain.

Shortly after the show, Gillespie Sells is still smiling shyly about this: 'I did take my shirt off eventually,' he points out. 'But I kept my wife beater on, 'cos I was scared I might come across like Johnny Borrell!'

Actually, his exuberant performance evoked a young Freddie Mercury, or the scene in Back To The Future where Michael J Fox over-excitedly 'invents' rock 'n' roll. 'I do get a bit carried away,' he muses. 'If you want to entertain people, you can't be scared of looking idiotic. You have to be as dramatic and ridiculous as you can.'

Bassist Richard Jones grins: 'When you're "giving it" on stage, it's like living a rock star dream.'

So far, The Feeling have lived that dream with gusto. The band (including drummer Paul Stewart and brothers Kevin and Ciaran Jeremiah on guitar and keyboards) developed their first album while gigging as a covers outfit at an Alpine ski resort.

After that debut earned them hits and an Ivor Novello songwriting award, they absconded to a swanky manor house to produce a more lavish sequel. Join With Us opens with the emotional fireworks of latest single I Thought It Was Over, a gay romance set against the fall of the Berlin Wall.

'We'd always wanted grand arrangements,' explains Jones. 'I'm proud of the album track This Time, because we worked with a beautiful orchestra.'

'I think our music would be terribly saccharine if it didn't have a moody, dark quality,' adds Gillespie Sells. 'Although, we're only going to sound like what we're playing with at the time. If we were surrounded by folk instruments, we'd probably make a folk album. Actually, there is mandolin and accordion on this album...'

Indeed, new song Connor features gipsy folk inflections. 'I wrote it about a girlfriend of mine, originally, but because I'm too shy, I changed the name,' says Gillespie Sells.

Both men amiably talk over each other, with the ease of old friends; they met while attending the Brit School for performing arts and share fond recollections. 'I went from being a complete freak at school because I had long hair, to being surrounded by freaks that I couldn't compete with!' says Gillespie Sells. 'I turned up on my first day and there was a woman dressed like a Barbie doll, a 16-year-old transvestite Goth and people in bubble wrap.'

'It's not like the Brit School creates stars,' adds Jones. 'It just attracted students such as The Kooks, Amy Winehouse and Adele because they had talent and wanted to sing.'

Essentially, The Feeling have never been too cool for school. They bridge a gap between the contemporary charts and pop nostalgia; they also seem delighted that I Thought It Was Over might be compared to a Eurovision stormer. However, they're frequently described as 'soft rock' - isn't that the worst genre name ever? 'Well, there are moments where we sound a bit like Foreigner or Toto!' laughs Gillespie Sells, launching into an impromptu burst of I Want To Know What Love Is.

Jones interjects: 'I looked up "power pop" on Wikipedia and that does describe us! It means: a combination of melodic music and vocal harmony with a classic rock format.' Neat definition, but does he ever fear the Internet is a vortex of half-truths? Jones nods: 'Someone said I was a smack addict on there once - I quite liked that lie.'

The truth is, both Gillespie Sells and Jones seem happiest dabbling in club culture; both occasionally DJ - the latter teaming up with his wife, pop starlet Sophie Ellis-Bextor, under the moniker Mr And Mrs Jones. And the band have created their most dance floor-orientated work on Join With Us.

'Upbeat dance music is part of our DNA because we used to play live at clubs in the Alps,' says Gillespie Sells. 'All the snowboarding kids were totally wired when we'd do these jam sessions with the DJ mixing house and disco beats. We've got that energy across more on this record.'

'God knows what it sounded like, but we had a good time!' laughs Jones.

The Feeling know that, in music, this is something that will always matter. Call it power pop instinct.

The single I Thought It Was Over (Island) is out today. The album Join With Us is out on February 18