Those of you who read my The Sunday Magazine columns know how much I enjoyed the recent Twin Peaks: The Return. One of the reasons was giving an auteur like David Lynch the freedom to realize exactly the vision he had. It wasn’t for everyone. It was meant to challenge assumptions. It wasn’t ever meant to make you comfortable and there was no happy ending, but it was an earned ending. Mr. Lynch was also responsible for the sound editing and throughout the 18 episodes electricity hummed through high-tension wires, crackled and popped, and provided otherworldly illumination. It was perhaps the most consistent motif within the show.
Within days of the final episode I received my sample of D.S. & Durga Vio-Volta. With everything still swirling in my mind here was a perfume which could have leapt off the screen as David Seth Moltz creates an uncomfortable electric fragrance.
David Seth Moltz
Vio-Volta is the latest in a series of new releases which feel like modern art. This is also an auteur’s vision which means it is not a perfume for everyone. I had people I work with on the days I was wearing it ask me “what the hell are you wearing?”. I also found it to be a bit wearying to wear over a full day. I have spent more time with it in shorter time periods without fatigue. All of that as prelude Vio-Volta is every bit as good as Twin Peaks: The Return was.
Mr. Moltz claims Vio-Volta was him fooling around with new ingredients to evoke something purple. The two ingredients which are the keynotes are Violis which he describes as a “really weird candy rhubarb” and Amber Xtreme.
The opening is that odd version of rhubarb from Violis. There is an oddly metallic vibe which runs throughout the crystalline vegetal rhubarb. It reminded me of chewing on tin foil. Early on it is sort of fun then it begins to hurt. Before the hurt gets to be too much the Amber Xtreme crashes over the top with a woody tsunami. Once the Violis pops back to the surface it is joined by some less artificial ingredients as incense and patchouli become proverbial life preservers to cling to. Over time the violet nature of Violis become more prominent but that crackle of electricity thrums underneath all of it.
Vio-Volta has 24-hour longevity and above average sillage. Besides being confrontational it lasts forever and everyone around you will smell it.
It seems I have been writing this a lot recently but perfume like Vio-Volta is something that can only come from our independent perfume community. You might hate it. you might love it, you might appreciate it, you might admire it; but you should try it.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by D.S. & Durga.
–Mark Behnke
