Drone
Ephemera by Unsound (2014)

Starts with a fresh, airy and somewhat lemony note. This is following by some fresh green coniferous noes. The scent is cool and low-key in style. Hints of a wood grain. The scent is admittedly minimalistic and artificial, yet it is pleasant. The juniper is a good evocation of the berry. Vetiver is grassy in profile (not earthy). Worth a try.

Before beginning the review, it should be noted that Drone (and its sister compositions Bass and Noise) are compositions that are each inspired by pieces of synthesizer music from presumably top artists in the space. The music composition related to this specific perfume is by artist Tim Hecker and can be found at http://vimeo.com/90461558.

Drone opens with relatively fresh ozonic aldehydes with just a touch of underlying sweetness. As the composition moves to its early heart the ozonic accord remains as subtle, jasmine-like airy hedione joins in along with slightly sharp vetiver. During the late dry-down the composition shifts gear as relatively soft, smooth patchouli joins what amounts to a synthetic light musk accord with traces of smooth vague underlying woods and maybe just a hint of a tonka laced white floral accord for minor added sweetness through the finish. Projection is average, but longevity very good at around 11-12 hours on skin.

Coming off one of its scary sister scents, Bass, it was with great trepidation that Drone was applied on skin. Luckily, it became clear early-on that Drone was considerably easier to accept than Bass, with a more sedate demeanor. The composition is quite airy and ozonic early, gradually working in slightly heavier facets like synthetic musk and vetiver as time passes. Nothing comes off as overpowering or unpleasant but the composition definitely keeps to the intentional synthetic theme of the Unsound project. In some ways Drone has some passing similarities to last year's Serpentine from the premiere brand known to feature synthetics quite effectively, Commes des Garcons, but this is nowhere near as impressive. Drone is the most easily digestible composition of the three Unsound project sister scents, but something about it just seems a bit too mundane to quite set it apart. The bottom line is the 80 Euros per 30ml bottle Drone is easy enough to wear and is a welcome relief from the heavy-handed presentation of Bass, but it just does not do enough to distinguish itself, earning it a very "average" 2.5 stars out of 5 rating. My recommendation is that if Drone appeals to you; give Serpentine a sniff first before making a purchase.

It's likely the liberal use of aldehydes, but Drone registers as the most ‘alien' (as in unearthly) of Geza Schoen's Unsound trilogy. One feels adrift in a rarefied metallic milky atmosphere where traces of boreal forest can be glimpsed deep down below. It's a perfume of strange air and strange space – all familiar referents seem distant and turning their faces away from the wearer. Major Tom's panic bottled.
Sure there's a vetiver-juniper combo at its heart but so stripped of anything that's of the soil and so swirled in the chilly milky fog of aldehydes that it's an impression of an impression, a scratchy hologram of these materials. I can't help thinking Etat Libre d'Orange is the true home of Drone.
I can't fault its overall balance but the elements used in this composition are just not my bag. I'd rather smell like a screaming queen than an ice queen.

Drone is my first approach with the talented alchemic work appointed by the "peculiar" perfumer Geza Schoen (Anat Fritz Tzora, several Escentric Molecules, Clive Christian X for Men, etc) for Ephemera by Unsound. Another futuristic exploration of the multifaceted alchemical universe. Another example of minimalistic post-modern refinement. Inhaling the top notes on skin you are immediately teleported in to a sort of sterile (aldehydic/apothecarian), balsamic, futuristic white ambience, an aseptic-hyperbaric, DDT liquid/repellent-smelling and robotic laboratory (muffled out of time and space), anyway in to something conjugating the most minimalistic Comme des Garcon's experimental icons with the most insolent Escentric Molecule's creative "non-fragrances" and the most aldehydic Andrea Maack's floral experiments (Dark, Silk and Craft, to quote several). Drone is first of all medicinal liquid aldehydic-floral cold "airiness" and is not easy to pick up more appropriate words from my misere english background. Drone is aerial and robotic. This smell is all about medicinal potions, boiling ampoules and tart-lemony floral processed serum-pollen. Floral notes are not listed but I'm sure to detect something as magnolia, freesia, osmanthus or peony, overall waving in to a sort of cold-chemical/aldehydic impersonal molecular chaos. I think to perceive fir resins and something like elemi resin as well (probably is just an illusion as in the famous song). It seems to detect the Andrea Maack Silk's accord of apothecarian floral patterns, aldehydes, lime tree and mineral amber while several magnolia-based accords jump more than vaguely on my moonshiny mind as well (L'Erbolario Magnolia but in to a more "pharmaceutical" and aeronautics-like way). As well as in to the finally frankincense-driven Andrea Maack Craft (cold metal, ice, aldehydes, finally oriented in to a dusty-incensey experience) in here we pick up (anyway without any incesey vibe) this accord of airy notes, aldehydes and aromatic forest's elements which provide a quite mineral-icy ambience kind of "frozen in time". Drone ends down with a more traditional connection of woods (vetiver in here conjures me vaguely the KenzoAir's icy-anisic vetiver) and cold amber which leads finally the aroma in to a more dry-spicy, warmly organic and vegetal territory quite virile and attractive (still manteining anyway its trademark "floral-disinfectant", tart, earthy, vaguely mineral and neutral-pharmaceutical appeal). A fragrance for the lovers of this "aseptic" genre and frankly one of the best in this infamous category.