Liverpool’s NOVELTY ISLAND Teams Up With China Crisis On New Single ‘Apollo’
Stream and share - https://ffm.to/noveltyislandapollo
New Album Jigsaw Causeway Released 3rd October 2025 via 9x9 Records
Preorder - https://www.9x9records.co.uk/shop
‘Jigsaw Causeway’ Debut Art Gallery Exhibition
Launch event - 3rd October 2025 @ Bridewell Studios & Gallery, Liverpool
Exhibition runs 4th - 10th October 2025
Winter 2025 UK Headline Tour Dates On Sale Now
Tickets - https://www.novelty-island.com/live
Liverpool’s Novelty Island (aka Tom McConnell) are pleased to reveal their new single ‘Apollo’, released 24th September 2025 on all good digital service providers via Ripe Records.
Commenting on the track, McConnell says: “Apollo trundles through the A and B roads for another spin around the grass. It’s a lo-fi jangle pop ditty inspired by Tusk-era Fleetwood Mac with a synth riff provided by Gary Daly of Liverpool legends China Crisis.”
‘Apollo’ is the latest single to be taken from their forthcoming new album Jigsaw Causeway, set for release on 3rd October 2025 via Liverpool independent labels 9x9 Records (vinyl) and Ripe Records (digital).
As with the rest of his back catalogue, the new album will feature McConnell’s artwork in a range of styles, from papier-mâché sculptures, to lo-fi animation and claymation, inspired by the songs. These works also feature on the artwork for the singles and the album sleeve, which is made from over 50,000 jigsaw pieces.
The band also recently announced details of their debut art gallery exhibition ‘Jigsaw Causeway’ running from 4th–10th October 2025 at Bridewell Studios & Gallery, Liverpool, with an exclusive launch event at the gallery on 3rd October 2025 from 7.30pm.
Inspired by the fuzzed-out, woozy production of Grandaddy, Beck and Boards of Canada, new album Jigsaw Causeway is a darker collection of surreal, melancholic lo-fi pop songs than previous NI releases.
Lead single ‘Rainy’ and follow-up releases ‘Foam Animals’, ‘Northern Nowhere’, and ‘The Only Train Driver In England’ were released earlier this year, with radio play from Nathan Shepherd at BBC Radio 6Music and a swathe of underground tastemaker support from Shiding! Magazine, Soundsphere Magazine, Maximum Volume Music and more.
Recently announced Winter 2025 UK headline tour dates are also on sale now (see below for listings).
Exhibition Dates:
OCT 3RD - LIVERPOOL - BRIDEWELL STUDIOS AND GALLERY (Launch)
OCT 4TH—10TH - LIVERPOOL - BRIDEWELL STUDIOS AND GALLERY
UK Headline Tour Dates:
OCT 25TH - LIVERPOOL - THE BLUECOAT
NOV 07TH - STOKE - THE ARTISAN TAP (w/ The Orange Alert)
NOV 08TH - NEWCASTLE - THE COMMON ROOM
DEC 04TH - LEEDS - HYDE PARK BOOK CLUB
DEC 05TH - MANCHESTER - THE CASTLE HOTEL
DEC 11TH - BIRMINGHAM - HARE & HOUNDS
DEC 13TH - LONDON - THE VICTORIA
Tickets - https://www.novelty-island.com/live
Jigsaw Causeway album tracklist:
Jigsaw Causeway
Someone Disappearing
Apollo
Floating
The Only Train Driver In England
An Orange Goodbye
Novelty Island online:
https://www.novelty-island.com
https://www.instagram.com/_noveltyisland
https://www.tiktok.com/@noveltyisland
https://www.facebook.com/noveltyisland
https://www.youtube.com/@NoveltyIsland
https://www.patreon.com/c/noveltyisland
https://noveltyisland.bandcamp.com
More info:
Novelty Island began at Abbey Road in 2019 while McConnell was studying at Abbey Road Institute. They released 2 EPs in 2020 and recorded songs for their first two albums, How Are You Coping With This Century? and Wallsend Weekend Television, at Abbey Road's Studio 2 and Studio 3, RAK and Damon Albarn's Studio 13.
Both albums were released on Think Like A Key (USA/Worldwide) and 9X9 Records (UK) on CD / Vinyl / Cassette. These releases, along with the 2024 Taped Over EP, have received great support from BBC 6Music, BBC Introducing, Absolute Radio, Shindig, Tim's Twitter Listening Party, MOJO Magazine, The Line of Best Fit, RnR, The Fader, NARC, Bandcamp and more.
The Novelty Island live band have performed at Glastonbury, Moseley Folk Festival, and Sound City Liverpool. Their surreal prop-filled show has taken them on multiple headline tours with sell-out hometown Liverpool shows and support slots with Sea Power, The Pale White, Scott Lavene, The Dream Machine, Trudy & The Romance, Demob Happy, High Llamas and Wesley Gonzalez. In 2023, McConnell toured Novelty Island as a solo act with an animated TV supporting China Crisis and joined the Outsider Artists agency roster.
Prior to Novelty Island, McConnell's TV ME and Tom Low projects toured supported Mercury-nominee C Duncan, BC Camplight and Flyte, performed at Green Man Festival and worked with Deltasonic Records and Bill Ryder-Jones. A Tom Low-released EP recorded entirely on a phone received critical acclaim from CLASH, Bido Lito, and BBC 6 Music.
Before these projects, McConnell performed under his own name, supporting legendary acts around the UK like Squeeze, Glenn Tilbrook, Ian McCulloch & lan Brodie, Steve Cradock and China Crisis among many others. He was also endorsed by Hofner Guitars and shared online by Paul McCartney's official social media channels.
