Since its inception, electronic music has always received the short end of the stick in terms of live performance. Take genre pioneers Kraftwerk — they built robots of themselves to play parts of their live set, creating rumours of a stunt performance in which the robots performed the whole show. As innovative as that approach was, it also emphasized the disconnect between electronic music audiences and the creation of the music. This obstacle has only grown since musicians began using computers, with many of the purveyors of electronic music sitting behind their laptops, looking like they could be checking their e-mail rather than making music in a live setting.

Edmonton’s Rob Ross (a.k.a. Flora) has been noticing this disconnect with audiences in the shows he has performed since the release of his 2006 EP, We All Lose. He’s since begun the process of trying to rectify this detachment with every performance.

“For me it’s all about the energy,” says Ross. “Right now I’m really happy with what I’m doing live, and I hope this translates to the audience, so that it’s not just me behind a bunch of gear and asserting my will on everyone. With the live thing, I am trying to do more beat-oriented stuff. It’s definitely not dance music, but I do want to get their heads bobbing and get them as excited as I am for the music I’m creating.”

Flora’s music takes notes from the pop-based electronics of acts such as Antwerp’s Styrofoam and Toronto’s vitaminsforyou. Songs like the title track from We All Lose place subdued vocals over driving beats full of clicks, claps and kicks, whereas “Estrella” from the same disc sounds like the soundtrack to a dream sequence in a flick about some teenager trying to find himself. While the music is unquestionably pop, Ross says he is still having a hard time trying to find his place within the electronic music fan spectrum.

“Someone who goes to a Daft Punk show knows what they are getting into, they are there to dance,” he says. “My stuff isn’t Daft Punk, but it’s not soundscapes either. It’s somewhere in-between. So I find a lot of people just don’t know how to approach it, and I end up getting a lot of questions at the end of each show. I’ve had a lot of people say that it’s not what they normally listen to, but they like it and end up buying the album.”

Even with fans appreciating Ross’s approach to connecting the listener with the music he is creating, the man behind Flora isn’t satisfied with his current approach. He’s reluctant to get too comfortable and is always looking for ways to tweak the performance.

“I think anytime you’re like ‘this is my setup, and I’m just going to roll with it,’ then you might as well just be hitting play on your laptop and checking your e-mail, or bidding on EBay,” Ross says. “But the same thing goes for traditional rock ’n’ roll bands. If they’re just going through the motions, then what’s the point of performing live anyways?”