Photo:  Slumberhouse Sådanne bottle CaFleureBon by The Silver Fox

It is pretty damn hard to get your senses around Sådanne the latest fierce and abstract offering from Portland Perfumer Josh Lobb of Slumberhouse Perfumes. I think this would please him though; his is a hermitic existence, living inside an altered state of intoxicating elixirs and dramatic aromatic scenarios. I think his work is art. Norne blew my mind when I first tried it and I am so pleased with this disturbing, sticky forest distillate dwelling in my study. I swear it mutters to itself in the dark.

Photo: Zahd byThe Silver Fox for CaFleureBon

The seeds of Sådanne were planted last year with the limited release of Zahd, in the new bottle design, a shockingly dense, impasto portrait of cranberries swathed in textured spices and sanguine elements of cherry, sandalwood, wine ether, cocoa, plum, Champaca and benzoin. Zahd is not easy wearing; the notes challenge both skin and mind. The alchemy of crushed Christmas notes and a feral backdrop of über-dry woods made it a full-on outlaw scent. This refusal to be standardised has made Josh one of the most compelling figures in contemporary perfumery.

Josh said of Zahd: 'As I began creating the formula for Zahd, I realized I was subconsciously sculpting the scent to replicate how I felt crushed red velvet would smell if a fabric could be transformed into scent. I wanted something lush, opulent, alluring, completely gender neutral and ultimately mysterious.’

Sadanne continues Josh’s singular vision of using scent to burnish his world. This is also the first time he has deliberately not discussed notes and ingredients. The fragrance appears on the website with a cryptic slice of typically Lobbian text:

Stained glass syrup


Serenades in damascone minor


Allegory obscured / pastel wound


A slurry of subtlety

Painting: Adrian Borda "love kills slowly" series

Obfuscation and diversion, sensuality and wilful pretension. Josh Lobb is an alchemist of extraordinary skill; his ability to blend darkness and texture, death, decay, vexation, amour and sweet candied landscapes is very unique. His perfumes have no real top notes, he’s not really interested, they take an eternity to settle but the journey to the base, the forest floor, the scattered leaves, the splashed wine and shattered bone, these things are mesmerising. Occasionally his dramas trigger shattering migraines, but then I sometimes feel this is a price I pay for my constant wanderings in the hinterlands of scent.

Painting: Adrian Borda "love kills slowly" series

I think Sådanne is a rose, a weird warped Grimm rose reeking of candied strawberries and then unleashing its skank as the sugar draws you in. I smell hibiscus and smears of cranberry, raspberry and cassis.

Photo: The Silver Fox Haribo Giant Strawbs

The jammy blast of seared Haribo Giant Strawbs (not an industry standard btw…) is pretty shocking, an amalgamation of gummy melt, plastic and ketones. I can’t get past the Haribo thing, it haunts me. I took some pics in preparation for this piece, using a kitchen blowtorch to roast said Haribo.

Photo: The Silver Fox scorches Haribo Strawbs Candy with a kitchen blowtorch

It was obviously tremendous fun, a tad disturbing but the scent of scorched artificial candy and warm, plasticky strawberry smells was pretty amazing.

Painting Adrian Borda Bleeding Rose

Now I’m not sure I’m making Sådanne sound all that alluring, but believe me it is an incredible and singular experience.  As the POW of sweetness burns off, the scent radiates a drunken aroma of fermenting, homemade berry wine, sweet, yeasty and heady. Skin smells drunk. Josh’s stained damascones are potent juice, smooth and velveteen. My friend and perfume guru Mr E pointed out that the notes seem suspended rather than fully dissolved, that the ethanol flash upon application is quite low suggesting perhaps a differing form of aromatic hold. The blending is deliciously rounded and close and it’s very true there is little space to inhale difference between the notes. Sådanne initially seems quite linear in its development, but unlike Zahd that I found claustrophobic and overtly sanguine, Sådanne moves with courtly grace and concealed intent. Hours into the hot berried drydown, the notes shift and sweeten again with a sudden ferocity. This before an animalic howl and fade.

 

Painting Adrian Borda The Pursuit of Happiness

There is a swooning sense of narcosis at work in Slumberhouse. You will not wear anything like Sådanne. Josh Lobb wants you to know that he knows that. His work is just beautiful, if a little terrifying. Immersed as I am in season 2 of Hannibal, I am beginning to regard Josh as the dangerous glittering sociopath of perfumery, taunting and teasing but wanting us to find him, discover his secrets and set him free.

Disclosure – from my own collection.

The Silver Fox, Editor  and The Editor of The Silver Fox

We are offering a 3 ml decant of Sådanne to a reader in the USA OR the EU. To be eligible let us know what you found of particular interest about The Fox's review of Sådanne and where you live.  Draw ends  October 6, 2014

Editor's Note: Romanian Surreal artist Adrian Borda seemed a good fit with The Fox's review of Sådanne.  Borda's art is not  conventional nor does he paint pretty pictures. In his own words "In my real life as well as in my art I don't care about conventions and the taboos, there are no sacred memes that cannot be touched".  I looked up the word sådanne and it seems that it is Danish, has multiple meanings and is the plural of "Such", "So Much" or "Something Like this" . -Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief 

We announce the winners only on site and our Facebook page, so like CaFleureBon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will just be spilled perfume.