Drone

"Tim Hecker’s notion of Drone does not have any direct personal narrative, drawing instead on his imagining of “a speculative day-glow incense from rituals where long-form sound induces levitation.” For Geza Schoen, that translates into aldehydes and air notes, developing to fir and juniper, with a base of patchouli, ambergris, and vetiver". Drone was built around the installation by Canadian musician and producer Tim Heckerwhose works for labels such as Mille Pleateaux, Alien8 and Kranky (amongst others) have become points of reference for anyone into experimental / abstract electronica. Immense soundscapes, manipulation of white noises and endless drones applied to a cinematic approach to music. The fragrance is closer in style to certain Comme Des Garcons (especially the more *transparent* ones), to Nu_Be Oxygen, to Craft by Andra Maack and, more in general, to that section occupied by clean, frankincense-inspired (as opposed to frankincense-centered), fragrances. A pretty tight composition that opens with a blast of super-sparkling, almost blinding, aldehydes. Cold and kind of metallic too yet somehow not aseptic. There's an overall incense-y presence that gives the fragrance a kind of purifying effect while a green / grassy vetiver / juniper combo provides woody aromatic facets bringing to mind of winter forests, immense landscapes covered in snow and isolationism. it's like breathing fresh air at full-lungs capacity (hedione overdose). All this, is paired to a subtle yet remarkable ambery base that provides a tad of warmness to an otherwise freezing composition...well, just a tad. The fragrance ends with a nice mix of salty / iodine vetiver /ambergris that's smooth and striking. It's funny how this fragrance is able to conjure huge naturalistic landscapes as well as more industrial environments at the same time. It's the outdoors during winter in the north hemisphere and an all-white industrial warehouse at the same time. It's freezing and kind of angular but not completely aloof. Clean without bordering into functional smells and housekeeping products. Meditative and melachonic while being fizzy and radiating but, most of all, Drone represents yet another proof that the biggest strength of fragrances is the power to evoke images and sounds. Rating: 7/10

I’m all for the generative multimedia approach, but I’m struggling to reconcile the aural, visual, and olfactive with Drone as the Hecker soundscape is less of a drone and more of a digital crescendo. Drone has a silvery-teal feel to me: a Pantone 333-hued desert cactus kind of quality. A soapy vegetal tinge is countered by sage-like notes to produce an otherworldly take on the vetiver genre. There's a processed air quality to it—a slightly aqueous iodine freshness, but the image it conjures is less of an ocean and more of a teal fiberglass room. Freshness aside, there’s also an aldehydic warmth that hums away in the background. But somewhere around the four hour mark, Drone starts to smell bizarrely Cuiron-esque to me—a hedione / linalool bomb with an oily vetiver feel. Soon after, it deflates into a bit of an expected synth-cedar—a structural foundation, but not a thrilling base unto itself. The opening reminds me of several of MiN’s recent offerings: specifically The Botanist and Onsen, but where the MiN line merged natural facets with industrial synthetic notes, Drone is pure synthesis from start to finish. Although it’s not my personal favorite of the three releases, as a stand-alone scent it’s a fairly solid scent—a sort of desert shrub created on a 3d-printer kind of feel. I don’t find it to be particularly challenging, and I don’t really think it’s that avant-garde either. Like the others in the line, I’d consider it to be more fashion-conscious than fashion-forward. It’s effective, wearable, and pleasant, but like its aural and visual counterparts, it doesn’t really advance us in anyway. It’s working well within a pre-established set of aesthetics (CdG, Nu_Be, Blood Concept, etc.), but it’s doing so in a relatively accessible and user-friendly manner. One of Schoen’s better offerings overall, but not quite on the same level as something like Kinski.

Wow some of you guys have such poetic prose. I wish I could write like that. Here is my crude first impression. I had no idea what I was smelling. I didn't read any note line ups, never even heard of it. I just got a random sample. To me it smelled like paper, and a little bit of ink. Than I thought it smelled like paper with a cucumber on top of it. Now I smell .. nothing almost. but something. I smell air, but maybe air that has been in a cardboard box, with maybe one slice of cucumber in it. Very peculiar fragrance.. Its not something I am really into. Maybe I need to test this out more, but this is just my first impressions. Can't say I am impressed or think the smell is appealing. Edit: I do like the dry down more, when the vetiver kicks in.. Its not as bad as my original post stated. I rushed into judgement. Still something I wouldn't get, Im not that crazy about the opening, but as it dries down i like it more.