AFTER months of travel between his base in Tampa, Florida and Kingston, singer L’evate plans to put promotional muscle behind Seek More and Reggae Vehicle, songs he recorded this year and in 2013 respectively.

“We want momentum, something that’s very strong that people can say ‘this is a real artiste’,” he told Splash.

Seek More is produced by Sheldon ‘Calibud’ Stewart, whom L’evate has done several recording sessions with in the last 18 months. The self-produced Reggae Vehicle, a salute to some of the music’s greats, was released in 2013.

Reggae Vehicle and Love Bullet, another self-produced song, have done the rounds on Caribbean radio in South Florida, but Westmoreland-born L’evate yearns for a breakthrough in Jamaica.

“You can get a vibe in South Florida and New York but it has to start here. Once Jamaica gives its approval yuh gone,” he said.

L’evate (given name Carl Stultz), who is in his late 30s, spent his formative years in Clarendon and Westmoreland. He migrated to the United States in the early 1990s, settling with family in Trenton, New Jersey.

After flirting with a recording career in the late 1990s, he concentrated on academics, earning a degree in political science.

The past three years have seen him focusing on music. He believes the Jamaican scene needs something fresh, and songs like Seek More represent that change.

“We’re hearing the same thing over and over. The only difference to me is Chronixx, nobody else is forceful like that,” he said.

L’evate hopes to release a video for Seek More soon, as well as make some live appearances in Kingston in August.

— Howard Campbell