Floorplan: A spiritual encounter

As if to prove that they have a normal parent-child relationship, too, Robert begins to relate the tale of an outing with Lyric. “There was this one time we were camping,” he recalls. “Or attempting to camp, really...” Lyric chimes in. “We started to watch The Walking Dead,” she says, “which was not a good idea. Not where we were, in the woods!” Robert lets out a hearty laugh. “So that kind of all went south,” he says, shaking his head. “But the point was that
she’s my hanging partner, and we always do stuff together. We watch cartoons together. We have this unbreakable bond. I mean, I am her father, and we’ll have some situations now and then – but five minutes later, we’ll be laughing again.”

You can’t help but wonder how Robert feels about introducing his sheltered daughter (Lyric is home-schooled) to the world of nightlife; after all, clubland can be a pretty wild place. True to his role as a minister, he views himself as his daughter’s shepherd. “You know, the world is filled with iniquity,” he says. “It’s in the workplace; it’s in the government; it’s in the police force; it’s in church. My job as her father is to guide her and direct her through all of this. She’s going to see lots of crazy things in this world. She’s going to see debauchery and transgression, and my role is to help her navigate through it.”

Lyric, who’s been content to let her father take control of the conversation thus far, becomes bubbly when asked about her home-listening preferences. “I like to switch it up a lot,” she says. “I’m a big pop head, and I love EDM – which I know a lot of people don’t agree with, but I like it! I grew up listening to Prince and Michael Jackson, all the icons. Drake, of course, and Rihanna. Ooh, I really like ‘Panda’ by Desiigner – do you know that track? A lot of people seem to wonder why I’m listening to this stuff, but I don’t really care. They ask me, ‘Why don’t you listen to techno twenty-four seven?’ Well, I can’t do that twenty-four seven. I’d get bored.”

For Robert, Lyric’s youthful enthusiasm is a huge asset for Floorplan. “She’s made the whole thing fresher,” he believes. “That’s why I think ‘Victorious’ is so exceptional. You know, I’m an old dude; my perception is getting stale,” he laughs. “I’m just joking – but Lyric does bring a brand-new energy to Floorplan, and another insight to what Floorplan is. The way she sees sound and music and the world…I look at that youthful insight, and I’m playing off of that. It’s like she’s driving, and I’m pretty much just going along for the ride.”

Speaking of rides, just then a car arrives to take the Hoods to the airport. They’ll be travelling back to Alabama before the family makes a seasonal move to Amsterdam, with a summer full of festival gigs and club sets ahead. Lyric shows us her Hello Kitty pendant, opening it up to reveal a hidden flash drive. ‘This is last night’s set,’ she says. Robert looks on, a smile on his lips and joy in his eyes. The Floorplan trinity set off home: the father, the daughter, and the holy music.

Floorplan’s album ‘Victorious’ is out now on M-Plant

Many thanks to Kirkaldy Testing Museum, the location for our shoot. The Testing Works is one of several unique locations managed by Ugly Duck, a London-based social enterprise which opens up empty and underused spaces for creative use