has been followed to achieve that." Xenomania have reportedly turned away Atomic Kitten and Gareth Gates. Peter Robinson, writing for The Guardian, credited the effectiveness of Xenomania's output with the number of people working with Higgins: "it's not really just five girls [Girls Aloud] and Brian Higgins—a whole team were at work with an acute understanding of how to manufacture an excellent pop phenomenon". Songwriters and producers who have worked for Xenomania include Annie, Fred Falke, Tove Lo, Edele Lynch (of Irish girl group B*Witched), MNEK, Deedee Ray, and Olivia Redmond (formerly of SoundGirl). Cooper says that high levels of quality control result from "a group of all sorts of artists, all songwriters, writing hooks on the same track [...] Brian had no worries choosing melodies from wherever they came from. He didn't mind if it was the person making tea in the office—if they came up with something, which they often did, that would be used". Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys said that Xenomania "reminded me of working at Smash Hits 'cos you've got this house full of people and they're all totally into music. [...] They all have comments to make. A truly great atmosphere." Xenomania work from a large English country house located in Kent, where Higgins also lives, and a flat in Shoreditch. They have also been known to write at hotels. The country home formerly belonged to Alice Liddell, the inspiration behind Lewis Carroll's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It was put up for sale in 2015. Influences Of the production group's philosophy and outlook, Higgins says, "What we stand for [...] is everything about the interesting side of music, but with tunes the postman will whistle." There are a number of influences present in Xenomania's productions, including electronic, glam rock, Motown soul, punk, and more traditional pop music. The Observer wrote that Xenomania are "sonically pioneering songs that have combined dance, rock and rave and resulted in the group being championed by NME as often as MTV." Pet Shop Boys member Neil Tennant noted that Xenomania "never stick to one sound, so they're never boring. They have a big range." The varied sound of the production house is influenced by Higgin's own wide tastes growing up. Higgins says, "I discovered punk music, then New Romantic music, then dance music, which got me into the music business professionally." Higgins was a fan of punk