KC Soundcheck is KCUR's spotlight for Kansas City musicians on the rise, as heard on Up To Date. Who should we interview next? Send us a text at 816-601-4777.
Flora From Kansas isn’t your average band.
Back in 2020, Lawrence, Kansas, resident Dan — who asked that we not use his last name to protect his family's privacy — noticed that his middle school-aged daughter, Flora, wasn't acting herself.
"Flora was feeling kind of neglected as the middle child," Dan told KCUR's Up To Date. "And I thought, 'Hey, Flora, what if we write a song together?'"
A producer who grew up in a musical family, Dan asked Flora to record her voice singing their song, and instantly, "Her voice was beyond what I expected," he says.
Fast forward nearly five years, and the result of that first collaboration is the band Flora From Kansas, which earlier this month dropped its debut EP, "Homesick," under the British independent label Melodic Records.
The EP is introspective yet hopeful, and includes the hauntingly beautiful track "The Ghost is Me," which was spotlighted on the Jan. 28 episode of NPR Music's All Songs Considered.
In "Wait For You," a song about waiting for her soulmate, Flora recalls the isolation she felt growing up homeschooled in Topeka.
"That's why I say that I'm "stuck inside my head," because I still kind of feel a little bit like that little girl I once was homeschooled by myself," Flora told Up To Date.
Flora says collaborating on songs with her dad, and occasionally her older brother, has made her feel less alone. "We're very close," the 17-year-old said about making music with her dad. "I mean, it's pretty easy working together."
With "Homesick" officially out, Flora now has her sights set on graduating high school on a high note.
- Flora From Kansas, Lawrence-based band
