‘Kick The Tyres’ begins with a hook refusing to sit politely in the background. Flora Fiora sings about working hard towards a career she loves while wondering why the rooms are not full yet. The frustration is real, but the song is playful with it. Its drive, quick wit and choral harmonies make the opening of her debut EP, In No Particular Order, an immediate pleasure.
Flora is 19 and comes from Chedworth in Gloucestershire. She has built an audience independently, travelling to play shows in Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud, with longer trips to London. “I was so frustrated I hadn’t made it yet,” she says of writing ‘Kick The Tyres’. Her questions about selling tickets come from the work she has already done, and the song has the energy of someone getting back in the car anyway.
Her voice makes the ambition sound personal rather than rehearsed. She plays with the song’s forward movement, while its middle-eight choral harmonies give her performance enough force to raise goosebumps. The hook gets your attention quickly, but her singing is why you want to hear it again. Mike Batt and Luke Batt produced the four-track EP.
‘Getting Out’ takes the same voice somewhere more exposed. The narrator rehearses what she will say in a mirror, then finds herself remembering the beginning of the relationship instead. The image of dead roses where someone slept is blunt and specific. Later, the familiar idea of falling in love becomes drowning, leaving little comfort in the memory she has been holding onto.
The production feels familiar, yet no obvious comparison explains Flora’s performance. The narrator asks to be caught even as she reaches for a way out. The repeated ‘I’m getting out’ has to push through the memories and sleepless nights preceding it. You hear a decision being made under pressure, without the neat relief its title might promise.
Four songs, four different moods
‘Dreamer’ slows the EP down. Its laid-back warmth and ethereal romantic mood give you space after the sharper edges of ‘Getting Out’. The calmer setting still draws you towards Flora’s voice. The shift keeps the EP from treating intensity as its only way to make an impression.
Then ‘Mad In The Head’ brings out a different kind of release. Flora lets rip, and the funky guitars give the track a swagger all its own. It is the coolest performance here: sharp, fun and comfortable with its attitude. Beside ‘Dreamer’, it shows how much ground her voice covers within four songs.
Flora has said the EP came together through reflection, with understanding arriving after the songs rather than before them. Her explanation fits these tracks without forcing them into one story. Ambition, a troubled relationship, romantic warmth and a burst of defiance each get their own space. The title sounds like permission to understand your feelings in whichever order they arrive.
In No Particular Order review
The EP works because Flora sounds completely present in every mood. ‘Kick The Tyres’ has the instant pull, ‘Getting Out’ has the most affecting writing, and ‘Mad In The Head’ makes the strongest case for putting her in front of a bigger crowd. ‘Dreamer’ keeps the collection warm between those peaks. No comparison with an established singer explains why her voice holds your attention.
Four tracks leave me wanting more. The vocal on ‘Getting Out’ stays with me, but I would return first to the playful rush of ‘Kick The Tyres’ and the guitars on ‘Mad In The Head’. Flora has made repeated journeys to rooms where she could sing. On In No Particular Order, it is easy to imagine those rooms filling up.
Listen to In No Particular Order and follow Flora on Instagram.
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