Coming out of Glasgow, The Buttons have been making an impact with a shimmering brand of psychedelic pop music. Led by songwriter and producer David Walsh, the band has built its sound around classic songwriting, intricate instrumentation and a love of musical experimentation and while drawing on The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Beatles and The Mamas & The Papas, The Buttons channel the spirit of 60s hippie counterculture cut with modern Scottish energy.
The story of The Buttons began the day after the band saw The Lemonheads perform in Edinburgh. Inspired by the simplicity of Evan Dando’s live renditions of “Being Around” and “Hospital,” they returned to Glasgow with a mission to write songs and keep things simple. That ethos became a central pillar of their creative process, with the band writing and demoing around 50 songs in their flat.
From that substantial collection, David Walsh selected 12 tracks to re-record for The Buttons’ debut album. Released in 2022, Norham Street took its name from the place where the band lived, where the songs were written and where their musical journey started and mapped out their three-chord pop approach. But The Buttons were never content to remain fixed in one place and their subsequent records saw that simple pop framework gradually absorb new colours and textures. The 2024 follow-up Technicolor ventured further into shoegaze and psychedelic rock, while 2025’s Neon Mind continued that adventure.
By the time they reached their fourth album, Noise, the band were expanding the sound again, combining their three-chord pop and 90s shoegaze influences with touches of 80s synth pop and punk. That constant movement has now brought The Buttons to Medication, their second album of 2026 and fifth overall. The new record turns decisively towards psychedelic pop, drawing inspiration from the countercultural spirit of the 1960s and across ten songs, David’s vision of the perfect psychedelic pop record takes shape through catchy melodies, bright guitars and a warm sense of nostalgia.
The magic of Medication lies in the way its details reinforce the band’s vision; layered 12-string electric and acoustic guitars provide a jangling tone while tremolo-drenched effects and stacked vocal harmonies give the songs an appropriately dreamlike quality as tambourines shake through the arrangements and the Mellotron adds its vintage texture. “Colours” sets up the record with the soft plucks of guitar and jittery notes, rolling with pattering drums and fuzzy chords to form a lively psych pop scene that flows with immersive arrangement and breezy vocal leads carrying instantly catchy hooks above.
“Lava Lamp” jumps straight into a bouncy setting of punchy drums and bright guitar textures capped by expressive vocals spinning memorable melodic threads into the uplifting musical fabric. “Dig It Out!” captures the album’s sunshine-filled character particularly well, arising as a fun summer pop song with the carefree spirit that runs through Medication. The hypnotic flicker of guitar notes is offset by the shuffle of percussion as the track swells into an infectious jam that filters the band’s pop-focused songwriting through a psych lens tinged with echoes of the Madchester-era.
Other highlights on the record include songs like “Voodoo” with its delicate guitar backdrop underpinning playful vocal leads and smooth backing vocalisations. “Psychedelic Sunshine” flows with a blend of airy tones and stuttered guitar textures propelled by the steady taps of percussion as graceful vocals drift above to cast a transportive listening experience that’s engaging, energising and original throughout.
“(Maybe) I’ve Still Got Time” lands with twanging notes and laid back rolling drums as alluring vocals soar, resulting in a misty rock pop outing that’s dreamy and anthemic in equal measure. “Hippy Chick” glides with acoustic guitar notes and intricate electric touches led by intimate vocals, framing the band’s timeless sound in a charming setting of blissful melodies and soft arrangement. Closing the album with title track “Medication,” the gentle combination of tender vocals and stripped back instrumentation crafts a soothing soundscape that gently builds to form a stunning finale to the band’s epic fifth studio record.
Listen to Medication below
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