John Michael Stipe

I was fortunate to go to graduate school at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA from 1981-1984. I started classes in the middle of September of ’81 and in my first week in town I was directed to this repurposed train station called Tyrone’s OC which was the best music venue in town. I was really enjoying the vibe of the place when the band finally took the stage. A very skinny man took the mike and started to sing in a sort of intermittently decipherable mumble. From the first song until the final note of the final encore, which if my memory still functions was a cover of the Bay City Rollers “Saturday Night” I was pretty sure I was watching a band that would do big things. That band was REM and it turns out that feeling was right.

In all forms of art it is a special thrill when you find someone you think is going to have a special career and when it comes to perfume I think I might have found a similar precocious talent-Jessica September Buchanan. Based on the early work she has shown me I certainly believe she is a perfumer of the highest quality. I met her in a much different milieu than a refurbished train station. Our first contact came at Sniffapalooza Spring Fling 2010 at the Jo Malone counter. She was talking about her time in Grasse and all she was learning by being there. I introduced myself and she gently shook my hand and told me her name, Jessica September Buchanan. It wouldn’t be until the next day when she debuted her first fragrance Reglisse Noire that I would realize her talent. I’ve raved about Reglisse Noire and it was one of my top fragrances of 2010 but the question always remains can an artist achieve success again and again. Ms. Buchanan has released her second fragrance Fleur No. 1 and I am very happy to say this again displays her ability to coax unexpected facets out of notes and themes that not every perfumer is able to do.

 

Ms. Buchanan classifies Fleur No. 1 as a fresh green floral and while that is an accurate description it is about as accurate a description as calling REM a rock band. The label doesn’t begin to do justice to the experience. Fleur No. 1 is the latest in a line of green fragrances this year as it seems many perfumers have discovered the joys of galbanum. Ms. Buchanan also uses galbanum in her green fragrance but I find her use of it to be extremely skillful. Most of the other green fragrances contain a huge almost overpowering slug of galbanum. Ms. Buchanan’s trust in her composing skills allow the galbanum to be the first among equals and as a result create a green harmonic almost all of the other green fragrances this year lack. The galbanum in Fleur No. 1 has a complex and complementary role to play and it does it well.

 

In the beginning moments of Fleur No. 1 the galbanum is there but almost immediately it is joined by the woody green floral aspects of magnolia. By using magnolia as the opening partner Ms. Buchanan allows for the woodiness of the magnolia to create a foundation for the galbanum to rest upon. The heart increases the floral quotient with narcissus, hyacinth, violet, and orris. All four of these notes add a floralcy which allows for the galbanum to now provide a green foundation for them to contrast with. The heart of Fleur No. 1 is as good a green accord as I have encountered this year. The base finds new complements in pine and a damp earth accord for the galbanum. The pine adds a lightly resinous quality while the damp earth accord is very reminiscent of the one found in Demeter Dirt. In Fleur No. 1 it, no pun intended, grounds the final stage of this fragrance appropriately.

Fleur No. 1 has average longevity and average sillage.

Like the best artists Ms. Buchanan has been taking her time and making sure the compositions she releases are what she wants them to be. I admire an artist that takes their time in the pursuit of their vision and Ms. Buchanan certainly seems to fall into that category. Thankfully, I don’t think it will be a year before we see her next new fragrance because she has already communicated to me she is in the final stages of a fragrance for Fall. Until then I think I’ll put REM on shuffle on my iPod and ponder the nature of talent in its infancy.

Disclosure: This review was based on a preview sample provided by 1000 Flowers.

Thanks to Jessica September Buchanan we have a 10ml sample of Fleur No 1 to giveaway. To be eligible leave a comment naming your favorite REM song or a moment where you discovered an artist  or perfumer you grew to love and mention something on JSB's blog Draw closes on July 18, 2011.

–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor