Every week, the Milwaukee Music Premiere sponsored by Density Studios connects the city’s artists with our listening audience. If you’re an artist with a track you’d like us to debut exclusively on Radio Milwaukee, head over to our Music Submission page to learn how.

As a non-musician, I can only imagine how difficult it is to take the two disparate elements of songwriting — music and lyrics — and make them seamless, as though they burst into existence simultaneously and instantly merged harmoniously.

That’s always been my way of identifying a “good” song. Not even a song I like, necessarily, but one where you give a nod to the artist because the craftsmanship is on point.

To clarify, I do like the track we’re premiering here: “Soft Side” from Milwaukee shoegaze-ish five-piece Standstill. I think you’ll like it, too, because the quintet really nailed the fit between their economical lyrics (48 words in the entire song) and instrumentation that doesn’t rely solely on vibes — a trap easily sprung in the shoegaze/dream pop genre.

As the band put it in their bio, “Standstill believes that a song is an experience and their sound can create an escape — their dream world.” The opening moments of “Soft Side” make that happen by easing you into another realm via gentle synth and Aliya Moore’s beckoning vocals that introduce a relationship living in the middle ground between what is needed and what actually exists:

Open wide, collect the rain
Stay inside, it’s all the same
I will lay this bed I’ve made
Twin-sized frame, I fan your flames 

“There is a tension that happens when we expect more from someone who can’t meet our needs or give us more,” the band explained. “In this song, there is a self-awareness that the protagonist is engaging in something that isn’t good for them, but they do it anyway. This one-sided relationship can make us stretch too far, become jaded, lose our softness and turn us cold.

“This song ends with the protagonist choosing themself and doing what they know they needed to do a long time ago.”

Standstill don’t need a wheelbarrow of lyrics to get the point across because of how the music carries the narrative just as effectively. Moore sings about saying goodbye as the song builds, recedes slightly and then busts loose, led by a tension-relieving guitar part. It’s an emotional pressure valve and satisfying conclusion to a listening experience you can get lost in for a little under four minutes.

Take that time to enjoy “Soft Side” using the player at the top of the page, or catch it on 88Nine throughout today (6:30 and 10:30 a.m.; 2:30 and 6:30 p.m). The track will also be part of Standstill’s self-titled debut EP set for release this Friday, May 30, and they’ll celebrate that same day with a show at The Pocket in Riverwest.

MILWAUKEE — Sade Robinson’s mother Sheena Scarbrough prepared for this trial mentally and spiritually.

“I’m ready to get this process started. I want the demon fully held accountable on all the charges of what he did to my baby,” Scarbrough told WTMJ host Jessica Tighe.

Opening statements in the high-profile trial against 34-year-old Maxwell Anderson started May 28th.

Anderson is accused of killing and dismembering Scarbrough’s 19-year-old daughter after a first date in April 2024. He’s charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, hiding a corpse, and arson.

The gruesome nature of Robinson’s death shocked the community and forever changed her family. Parts of the young woman’s body were found scattered across Milwaukee County. Another part was discovered along the lakeshore in Waukegan, Illinois.

Scarbrough says she still doesn’t have all of her daughter’s remains.

“We don’t have my baby’s head– her crown. We still don’t have my baby’s head and her crown,” Scarbrough explained.

She also wants more answers.

“(Sade’s) death certificate reads homicide by unspecified means. There is no cause of death on my daughter’s death certificate,” Scarbrough revealed.

This mother’s pain is unimaginable for most.

“It affects you physically, not just mentally and spiritually, but physically. It’s very heavy. It’s very heavy and draining,” she said.

Scarbrough plans to be in the courtroom every single day, sitting in the front row. She knows she’ll never get her daughter back, but she wants Robinson’s killer to pay.

“What punishment do you think he should get if convicted,” Tighe asked.

“He needs to get the same form of punishment as what he did to my baby,” Scarbrough answered.

Wisconsin does not have the death penalty, but Scarbrough says that’s what she would want if the state did.

“Justice for my baby, justice for my family, justice for me and her father. I want that demon to fully feel and pay for the pain and the suffering and the torture he did to my daughter,” Scarbrough said.

Robinson was set to graduate from MATC in May 2024. She had planned to enlist in the U.S. Air Force and had hopes of eventually joining the FBI.

The trial in Milwaukee County is expected to last two weeks.

Sheena Scarbrough talked with Wisconsin’s Midday News in February and discussed the foundation she created to honor her daughter. Listen to the podcast and learn how “Sade’s Voice Foundation” is working to protect other missing people and crime victims.

A jury of 12 women and three men will determine the fate of Maxwell Anderson, who is accused of killing and dismembering 19-year-old Sade Robinson after a first date last year.

RELATED COVERAGE: Jury selected for Maxwell Anderson trial in the death of 19-year-old Sade Robinson

Local defense attorney Pat Cafferty, who will be providing analysis for TMJ4 throughout the trial, expressed surprise at the efficiency of the jury selection process.

“I think lots of people were predicting that it was going to go beyond just today to select the jury, but it sounds like the judge moved very efficiently,” Cafferty said.

The jury was seated just before 5 p.m., narrowed down from more than 40 potential jurors after starting with an initial pool of around 75.

Watch: Milwaukee defense attorney surprised by quick jury selection in Maxwell Anderson trial

Attorney provides insight into jury selection on first day of Maxwell Anderson trial

“Part of what they did was they used jury questionnaires to eliminate some of the potential jurors. They got the number down to about 40, and then once they were at 40 through preemptory strikes and strikes for cause, they got it down to 15,” Cafferty said.

The jury includes three alternates, though none of the jurors know whether they are regular jurors or potential substitutes.

When asked how a defense attorney might approach a case like this that deals with evidence including pictures of body parts, Cafferty said, “as defense attorneys, what we’re trained to do, and what experiences, experience tells us to do, is you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable so you can’t run and hide from some of this evidence. You have to deal with it head on.”

Cafferty also provided some insight into what the defense strategy in this case could look like.

The prosecution’s evidence reportedly includes cell phone location data and video footage of Anderson on and off buses, though there are gaps in time and information that the defense may exploit.

Cafferty explained that the defense will likely focus on the first-degree intentional homicide charge, which carries a life sentence, rather than the other less serious charges.

“My understanding is what they don’t have is a cause of death or manner of death,” he said. “They can most certainly say that Ms. Robinson is dead, and there’s probably significant evidence about the charges, numbers 2, 3, 4, the concealment, the mutilation, the arson, but the government has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Maxwell Anderson intentionally killed Miss Robinson, and that’s where the focus of the defense will be.”

Opening statements in the trial are expected Wednesday. Anderson’s trial could last as long as two weeks.

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