Some duos are built in boardrooms. Native Flora were built in a friendship. Cactus Corino and Treeboy had been orbiting each other’s projects for years, each showing up on the other’s debut, and eventually making it official felt less like a decision and more like admitting the obvious. Last year’s self-titled album cleared 180,000 streams. Now they’re back with new single “Hello” and a deluxe Floralia Edition landing May 23rd. Their mission sounds simple until you try living it in a London winter: carry summer with you, all year.
The duo sat down with William “Benson” Hedges for an exclusive interview with InMusic, discussing their origins, their self-titled album, and their new single “Hello.”
You were already on each other’s first projects. What finally made the duo official?
Cactus Corino: We’re boys. We always knew the duality, how we push each other onto different beats, support each other. He’s got the technical side, cameras, content. I lean into the business, running ads, promo, getting gigs. It was creative and practical at the same time.
Treeboy: We’d been doing this stuff with each other anyway. It started as the idea of doing one song, then another, then it snowballed into the whole project. Everyone enjoyed it. Stopping felt silly.
Native Flora. The name does a lot of work in one phrase.
Treeboy: Cactus is a cactus, I’m a tree. That’s flora. We’re from here, native. Bish bash bosh. I also got into the Roman festival Floralia, spring, flowers, fertility, hoping for a good harvest. It made me think of Flora, and here we are.
Cactus: There’s the juxtaposition too. Feeling good, being in nature, being in community, inside the concrete jungle. The duality between two opposing things.
Treeboy, the earth thing isn’t just aesthetic for you, is it?
Treeboy: Not at all. Most of my jobs outside London have been outdoors. Forestry, tree planting, l still work on an organic farm seasonally. My relationship with the earth is a fundamental part of who I am, and honestly it’s a key thing that helped me with my mental health. So yeah, love trees, man. The world’s a bit rough at the moment, but the earth? Ten out of ten.
That juxtaposition, nature and concrete jungle, feels like the whole project in miniature.
Cactus: City living is tough. If you can carry sunshine with you at all times and share it through music, that’s a beautiful thing. That’s the whole identity. Two people whose mindset is permanently in summertime. You see it in the Hawaiian shirts, the constant good mood, the positivity.
Treeboy: Good times music. You know, kind of bridging the classic UK hip hop sounds with the jazz and soul elements. The focus is not delving too deep. Not getting overly introspective. Thinking about how it makes you feel rather than trying to say something too profound.
Does that make solo work a different muscle?
Cactus: Yeah, completely. With Native Flora, l’m not rapping about me. I want it to be something everyone can identify with, so it has to sit in subtext. Broad, positive. As Cactus Corino solo, I can talk about my personal life, bring you into my story. Native Flora is about all the communities, everyone who wants to come together in this field of art.
Treeboy: For me it’s pushed me into melody. How something sounds and feels before anything else. On “Hello” I’m using more of my voice than I have before, which has been really nice to lean Into.
Let’s stay with “Hello.” It opens the new chapter. What is it doing?
Cactus: It’s a reintroduction. That’s literally what it is. We’re here, we’re back, let us introduce ourselves, come catch a vibe. If new listeners come away thinking this is who we are, nice to meet you, you’re gonna hear more of us, that’s the best feeling I could get from a release.
Treeboy: Starting the year, growing the community the album built, bringing new people in. The reception last year was great. This is us saying hi all over again.
How did it come together in the room?
Cactus: Three guys in a room, as we tend to do. Free-flowing. The beat was perfect, one of us started spitting “hello, hi,” it sounded cool, an hour later the track was together. jesi sent his verse in. These things don’t need to be thought out. It’s how it makes you feel.
Treeboy: I tried not to overthink it. I rhymed “hello ooh” with “get to know you,” which, frankly, is lyrical genius and I stand by that to the grave.
Sonically it sits in a slightly different pocket to the album.
Cactus: This is the most straight-up boom bap thing we’ve done. Usually we lean more diverse, a lot of Tribe Called Quest, jazz elements. This one is closest to straight 90s hip hop. Thematically it’s still a continuation of Native Flora. A celebration of that whole vibe. A reintroduction to it.
Looking back at the album, you’ve said the end of the process got difficult. You can hear it on “Good Vibes Forever” and “Now You’re Here.”
Cactus: Yeah. We started from a positive place, but juggling full-time jobs, writing, filming, marketing, designing, producing, it’s a hell of a thing. Towards the end it got hard. Those last two songs reflect that. The positivity became more real, a bit more weighted. The sunshine had to carry some actual weight. It’s still the greatest project I’ve ever done, but it cost something to make. I think that’s why “Hello” feels the way it does now. We had time. We knew what we wanted. Its lighter on its feet. Honestly, I feel anxious when I’m away from the booth. Taking time off was nice, but we’re back.
Treeboy: And stepping back in felt good. I’ve got a little booth in a wardrobe at mine now, so we don’t have to trek to a studio. Approaching the rollout as professionally as we can manage has been a fun process. By “professionally,” I mean I’m bad at the music business side, so it’s good to learn. Thanks to Cactus’s big brain help.
The album passed 180,000 streams. What was the moment that actually felt like something?
Cactus: A hundred percent the launch party at Black Rock, supported by Whistlepig and Ardbeg. The whole community pulled out. Having our people there, showcasing Native Flora as a collective, amazing feeling.
Treeboy: Same for me. Loads of people we love, good times. They even did custom cocktails named after us. Everyone was merry. And shout out Sam, whose artwork we now have as a physical poster. Looks awesome.
What does the Floralia Edition add?
Treeboy: May 1st we’ve got another single, then May 23rd the deluxe, Native Flora: The Floralia Edition, with new songs. Shout out to the goddess Floralia. Then singles for the foreseeable, refining the sound, trying new stuff, more collaborations.
Cactus: New producers, new features. Bringing people together, artists from around the UK, maybe further. Let’s keep this party going.
Future of Native Flora in three words.
Cactus: Summer all year.
Treeboy: Good times, baby. I’ve committed now. There’s nothing I can do.
Leave us on a reason to stick around.
Cactus: London born and raised. So much music we’re sitting on. Treeboy’s got solo work coming, I’ve got solo work coming, but Native Flora is number one priority this year. Stick around. I promise you it’s going to be a good time.
Treeboy: A few things I’ve been sitting with. Music and otherwise. See where the year takes me. Mysterious.
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