This past Valentine’s Day, Milwaukee five-piece Standstill dropped a timely single about the bookends of a relationship: the thrilling early stages and how they can still resonate in the final moments of both love and life. So when it came time to put together the video for “Button,” the visuals of a picnic at Forest Home Cemetery seemed like a natural place to end up.
But it’s not where Standstill started. As the shoegaze band’s Aliya Moore explained to us, they originally checked out an abandoned church but got spooked away from the site — not by any lingering spirits seeking to resolve their life’s regrets, but rather by a road sign warning them of a flood zone.
As even the most amateur of directors knows, water and film equipment don’t exactly mix, which pushed the project (shot and directed by the band's Nicholas Abel) to the cemetery location that fit the track’s message even more snugly.
Despite the barren trees and matted grass surrounding row upon row of gravestones, there’s a general warmth to the opening stages of the video as it alternates between wide scenic shots and close-ups of Moore’s bright, beaming face. Eventually, that gives way to a picnic four-top that swings the mood in a visceral and somewhat-disturbing direction.
Taking a pass on utensils, the cemetery soiree starts with its participants literally tearing into the spread and then devolves into smeared faces and wine swigged straight from the bottle (pity the project’s dry-cleaning bill). Finally, Moore finds themself alone at the table in a pensive series of final shots that speak to how difficult it is to let go after a life together.
“‘Button’ is a song that compares the beginning stages of love and connection to its final moments,” they shared with us. “Two scenes are set: finding intimacy with a new partner and hanging on to a loved one as they pass on. The chorus unites these scenes as two sides of the same coin — the love shared between two people being a painful, beautiful, necessary human experience.”
The song, like the video, feels imbued with intent and careful craftsmanship, both of which are reflected in the end result. Recorded and produced at Bim Bom Studios — a converted Polish bar in Chicago — “Button” sounds deep and layered while it alternates between a noisier chorus and two gentle verses dedicated to the opposite ends of a relationship. The latter’s vivid description really jumps out, with Moore singing:
You had cold, cold hands
And your sunken eyes
They were purple trenches
They were gold-coin sized
And I squeezed your fingers
And your tired breath
And this ritual
Could put souls to rest
“Button” does its job as a lead single and has me looking forward to more from Standstill’s self-titled EP when it comes out May 31. They’ll celebrate that night with a release show at the Pocket (the warehouse space in Riverwest across from Amorphic Brewing) and prior to that will open for Cryogeyser and Flooding on April 23 at Cactus Club.
