Novelty Island is the project of Liverpool-based songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Tom McConnell. He grew up between Newcastle and Liverpool and takes inspiration from the pop music, surrealism and melancholy of the North. After a series of psychedelic EPs, the debut Novelty Island album How Are You Coping With This Century? was released in Autumn 2021. It led to the Novelty Island live band performing at Glastonbury and extensive touring around the UK. McConnell then turned to recordings he’d made as a student at Abbey Road Institute for the second Novelty Island album, Wallsend Weekend Television. The album was released in March 2023 and followed by a 10-date UK headline tour. Both Novelty Island albums have received five-star reviews from Shindig and R’n’R as well as support from Mojo, BBC 6 Music, BBC Introducing and Absolute Radio. McConnell also creates surreal imagery around Novelty Island in the form of papier-mâché props, dreamy animations, claymation videos and a never-ending Instagram account.

Novelty Island have just completed a third album due for release in 2025.

‘Full of Beatlesy pop smarts’ Mojo

‘Crafted as crisply and imaginatively as anything anyone's ever recorded’ Shindig!

‘Rainbow-hued psychedelic synth-pop’ Bandcamp

‘A fever dream of whimsical verses and retro soundscapes’ Fader