Welcome to “Cut Through the Noise,” an Entertainment column from the St. Louis Park Echo covering new music releases. Every week, a different Echo staffer takes on the role as writer, reviewing recent single releases from a variety of artists.

“Don’t Let Go (Love)” – Bastille and Other People’s Heartache feat. Craig David, Kianja, and Swarmz 3 stars ★★★☆☆

“Don’t Let Go (Love)” by Bastille and Other People’s Heartache featuring Craig David, Kianja and Swarmz comes from Bastille’s most recent EP “Other People’s Heartache (Part 4).” The song gives off a Backstreet Boys vibe with a techno twist. The lyrics are fairly well written, though they won’t be winning a poetry contest any time soon. The melody is about the same quality, showcasing a certain amount of talent but falling short of greatness. “Don’t Let Go (Love)”  boasts a large number of artists and uses them to its advantage, highlighting their different skill sets instead of burying them. There are times, however, when the snare drum overpowers everything else, leaving some parts of the song to sound like a 5-year-old was recorded banging as hard as they could. The song takes an odd combination of contrasting styles of instruments and vocals and somehow blends them together nicely. Although the entire song gives off an almost menacing vibe, the song is rich and full overall.

“I Don’t Think About You” – HRVY ★★★★☆

HRVY’s newest single, “I Don’t Think About You,” is an improvement on his previous works. The song starts out with an acoustic guitar riff that sets the mood. HRVY’s vocals are nice and fit with the laid-back feel of the tune. The lyrics are simple but still poetic — nothing special. Plenty of songs recently are overproduced. They have too much going on and it detracts from the quality of the overall production.  “I Don’t Think About You” stays far away from this, making for a much more enjoyable song overall. The simple piano, vocals, guitar and percussion accompaniment emphasizes each part, shining a spotlight on the individual components instead of hiding them behind a soundboard. Lyrically and melodically the track is very enjoyable, but not perfect. Though most songs have a point where the music all comes to a head, “I Don’t Think About You”  never has a climax. The song stays at the same level of excitement for its entire runtime.

“December” – Gabrielle Aplin and Hannah Grace ★★★★★

“December,” the titular song on Gabrielle Aplin and Hannah Grace’s holiday EP, is a gem. “December” manages to be both uplifting and melancholic at the same time. The vocals are absolutely stunning and the accompaniment allows them to take center stage all throughout. Aplin and Grace’s voices complement each other entrancingly and the differences bring stunning harmonies to be especially heart-wrenching. The whole song is very dramatic, emphasizing this with violins in the background. Drums that come in partway through the track added a sway to the music. My only complaint for an otherwise perfect song is the style is a little generic. Overall, “December” is a great song and a new holiday favorite for me.