Novelty Island’s hook-filled dream pop channels surrealism and Northern melancholy through classic songwriting. The project is led by Liverpool-based songwriter and producer, Tom McConnell who describes it as “Paul McCartney having an argument with Bernard Black”. Eclectic songs inspired by childhood, motorways, trains, old televisions, cowboys, space, birds and balloons form their first two albums, How Are You Coping With This Century? and Wallsend Weekend Television, which received acclaim from Mojo, Shindig, BBC 6 Music, BBC Introducing and Absolute Radio. The psychedelic, papier-mâché-prop-filled Novelty Island live band have performed at Glastonbury and toured the UK extensively as a headline act and support to Sea Power, The Pale White, Scott Lavene and China Crisis.

In 2025, Novelty Island will release a new album Jigsaw Causeway; a darker collection of lo-fi songs inspired by the fuzzy, woozy production of Grandaddy, Beck and Boards of Canada. Novelty Island’s releases feature McConnell’s artwork in a range of styles from papier-mâché sculptures, lo-fi animation and claymation. The new album will be by accompanied by his first exhibition.

‘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