English
Pronunciation
-
- Rhymes: -eɪniə
Noun
xenomania- A strong preference for foreign customs, manners, or institutions.
- An obsession with strangers.
- Pleasure gained from meeting strangers or visiting foreign countries.
Xenomania are one of the UK's
leading pop production
houses, put together by writer and producer Brian
Higgins. They are known for the wide influences present in
their productions, most notably in their principal act, Girls Aloud.
Strands of electro, more
traditional pop, rave, power pop, and
dance can all be found in their productions. The name "Xenomania"
means, according to Higgins, "the exact opposite of Xenophobia...a
love of everything, of all cultures." Members of the Xenomania
writing and production team include Nick Coler,
Giselle
Sommerville, Miranda
Cooper (also known as Moonbaby, and who
shares co-writing credits in nearly all Xenomania-written tracks),
Lisa
Cowling, Tim Powell,
and Matt
Gray.
Xenomania have produced and remixed tracks for
some of the most successful pop acts of the 2000s, including
tracks for Sugababes,
Girls
Aloud, Sophie
Ellis-Bextor, Kylie
Minogue, Cher, Shakin
Stevens, Steps,
Texas, and
Mania, who
are comprised of former Xenomania (and ex-The
Cinematic Orchestra contributor) Niara
Scarlett and Giselle Sommerville. In particular, all 17 of
Girls
Aloud's singles (not including their collaboration with
Sugababes
on "Walk This
Way", produced by Dallas
Austin) have been produced by them and have reached the top
ten. Of Higgins and Xenomania, Girls Aloud's
former manager, Louis Walsh,
says, "He just makes great songs for radio. They just jump out at
you and stay in your brain."
History and Philosophy
Brian Higgins found early success producing hits for Dannii Minogue, specifically for her third studio album, Girl, which, though gaining favorable reviews at the time, failed to crack the British Top Fifty. However, the success of the lead single, "All I Wanna Do", led Higgins to to write Cher's international #1 hit single "Believe." Although the song out-performed all expectations and won him three Ivor Novello awards, when London Records was sold in the late 1990s, Higgins found himself without a label, so he decided to found Xenomania as an independent production company based in Kent, outside of London, because it is "somewhere where concentration would be easy [and] no one 'pops' in."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." The wide reaching and varied musical style that defines
the production house's sound is influenced by Higgins own wide
tastes growing up, which included punk rock
groups such as the Buzzcocks and the
Sex
Pistols, as well as more electronic
groups such as New Order and
Depeche
Mode.
On Xenomania's relatively low output (compared to
a group like
Stock, Aitken & Waterman), Higgins says, "If you're a
production house, you're supposed to work with anyone and everyone:
that's the rule...but if we don't feel excited by the prospect of
the artist, then the record's going to be shit. The MDs don't tend
to understand it when you turn them down - they just think you're
being arrogant - but if we'd made records for everyone we'd been
asked to over the last couple of years, I'd be a husk of a person
by now. There'd be loads of money around, but the music would be
terrible, and the depression would be raging through me."
Work
In 2007, Xenomania worked with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Alesha Dixon, and produced two songs for Sugababes' fifth studio album Change. In addition, they have writing credits on all of Girls Aloud's recently released fourth studio album, Tangled Up, which was released in November 2007. The production team also been working with Franz Ferdinand on their third studio album, a step out of both Xenomania and the band's comfort zones.To come in 2008 is the Xenomania-produced debut
album from up and coming singer Gabriella
Cilmi (Island Records). Her first single "Sweet About
Me" was released in March 2008, with an album Lessons
To Be Learned to follow. Also due in April 2008 is their work
on the second album from Norwegian singer Annie.
In May 2008, the Pet Shop
Boys announced on their official website that they were working
with Xenomania on tracks for their album planned for release 'in
early 2009'.
Critical response
Xenomania's writing and production work, specifically for the girl group Girls Aloud, has been consistently praised by the media. "Listening to [Girls Aloud's second studio album] What Will The Neighbours Say?, you constantly get the impression that Higgins and Xenomania are enraptured by the possibilities of pop music...", said Alexis Petridis in a November 2004 review for The Guardian. He goes on to say, "The results are so spectacular that you rarely notice Girls Aloud's voices, which are in tune, but so devoid of emotion you begin to wonder if English is their first language."However, in his review for Girls Aloud's fourth
studio album, Tangled Up,
Nick Butler says that, though "Sexy!
No No No..." "...is a great song...the production overshadows
the intended stars to the point where [it] almost sounds like
sabotage. It's indicative of the theme of the album, Xenomania
audibly muscling Girls Aloud out of the picture. They might as well
rename themselves Egomania."
Elsewhere, Alex
Kapranos, lead singer of Scottish band
Franz Ferdinand, said of their upcoming collaboration with Higgins
and Xenomania, "We've been interested in Brian for years. His
production of Girls Aloud's "Wake Me Up"
first caught my attention. I remember thinking: 'What the hell is
that? It's amazing'. There was something about their sound which
was immediate but dangerous - rare in a girl group. It was really
edgy. I've a lot of admiration for the Xenomania team." However,
the collaboration fell through. Kapranos said, "We just realised
that we're not really a pop group. We're just a band that happens
to cross over into the whole pop sphere."