Formats
NXN015LP - LP
0615625706598NXN015CD - CD
0615625706604
Details
Novelty Island follow up their stunning debut How Are You Coping With This Century? with Wallsend Weekend Television via Nine x Nine Records. Novelty Island is the bizarre-pop project of Liverpool-based songwriter / producer, Tom McConnell. Wallsend Weekend Television is an album that has been a long time coming. The tracks that appear on it serve up as an almost best of McConnell’s musical career so far. In 2018 he made the ultimate pilgrimage from his native north to Abbey Road Institute with over numerous songs from various projects in hand. This is where Novelty Island was born, inspired by classic pop, woozy electronica and northern wordplay. McConnell would record in session at Damon Albarn’s Studio 13 and in Abbey Road Studios 2 and 3, where students at the Institute had to make notes on recording techniques. This gave McConnell the freedom to explore and create the album. Whittled down from 80 songs and an almost infinite combination of track listings, it has driven him mad at many points. So much so that McConnell returned to Liverpool where he wrote, recorded and released his one-man band debut album, ‘How Are You Coping With This Century?’ along with dreamy videos, sculptures, and a never-ending Instagram. The 12-track ‘surreal northern nervous breakdown’ was released in 2021 to five-star reviews (Shindig / RnR) with support from BBC 6 Music, Amazing Radio and more. Novelty Island’s new live incarnation emerged from lockdown to launch the debut album in late 2021. In less than a year they have supported The Pale White on their UK-tour, completed a headline UK run and performed at Glastonbury Festival. “Wallsend Weekend Television was supposed to be the first album as it was mainly done before but I’m glad I parked it for a bit to get some distance from it” says Tom. Novelty Island’s primary-colour psychedelia is on full chromatic display. More elaborate and cinematic than the first record with a much bigger sound. Obsessed with television and the escapism it provided from a young age, each song is like a little TV channel that chops to the next.
Tracks
(1) Stitches (2) GoGo (3) Eureka, I Can See! (4) Over & Over (5) Turn To Me
(6) The Desperately Strange (7) Magnificent Advertisement (8) Sea Miner
(9) Bootlegs (10) Funny Little Rhythm (11) Balloons
Press
#19 SHINDIG! AOTY 2023