Premiere: Check Out “Shadow,” Dallas Pop Act LEV's Debut Music Video.
LEV is a Dallas-based pop act centered around the vocal stylings of the Tyler-raised Holly Peyton, a singer currently prepping her debut EP — a five-song effort called Fear No Evil — for a May 26 release. Peyton's press materials say she really likes the New Radicals, which makes sense because, the one and only time I saw LEV perform live, she and her backing band covered that '90s group's “You Get What You Give” hit before a willing-enough-to-indulge Prophet Bar crowd. It was kind of a weird showing, to be frank — an outlier in the band's otherwise more-shimmering set.
Far more palatable — and endlessly more interesting — is the first release of LEV's original recorded music, and, specifically, a song called “Shadow” that will no doubt find itself a home among Haim fans, if nowhere else.
Delightfully poppy and unabashedly reliant on the fact that everyone enjoys a singlalong-ready “Hey!” lodged into their pop song hooks, “Shadow” is about Peyton's own struggles with stepping into the proverbial spotlight, unguarded. I don't know that I'm buying any real trepidation, though; “Shadow,” for all of its impressively clean production, unveils Peyton as a confident vocalist with clear radio (or at least satellite) intentions.
Also, it's just a real tough melody to shake — one of the catchier tracks we've heard out of North Texas all year, for sure.
Its accompanying music video too impresses, which is why we're stoked to premiere it below. Check it out, then catch LEV's next local live performance, which will come as part of the upstart, two-day Dallas Music District Festival's opening festivities on Saturday, May 16.