Perfuming the Posy: Lincolnshire That Is (Mvt 1 - Lisbon)

*Current Fragrance: Jade by Olivier Durbano
*Currently Listening: Wouldn't It Be Nice by The Beach Boys

Happy Musical Monday, all! Just for a little scorecard keeping on "Perfuming the Posy: Lincolnshire That Is", we've now scented movement 4, The Brisk Young Sailor and movement 3, Rufford Park Poachers. Today we're going to broach the first movement of the work: Lisbon. Take a listen...

Lisbon has often been described as a sailor's song with plenty of "lilt". I guess I've been in an aquatic-mood as of late, so this one has been fun! Lisbon isn't just some straight forward sea-chantey. It's got plenty of spunk and character and takes advantage of a rather large spectrum of "color" that is available to wind bands. I wanted to find a fragrance with a large aquatic punch, that had some...well...cheekier aspects to it; I found it, with Bond No. 9's Coney Island.

 

The Bond No. 9's website copy for Coney Island lists notes of Margarita mix, melon guava, cinnamon, chocolate, caramel, musk, vanilla, cedarwood, sandalwood. I have to say that I was incredibly curious to try Coney Island, as I was afraid it was going to be a hot mess...which is what also put me off from it for quite sometime.

Upon sniffing it, it opens will a BIG dose of OCEAN, almost bordering on POOL. After the initial super-aquatic hit dies down you get the margarita mix and guava. I thought it was going to be a good deal more saccharin than it was...you know with the margarita mix, chocolate and caramel.... The cinnamon and the musk (clean and white) does a really good job of tamping that down. The cinnamon tickles my nose a little. I like cedarwood, it's sea-spray soaked...like a boardwalk. The sandalwood is deep, yet unobtrusive.

I imagine our sailor as the protagonist in Lisbon. He's got some time of from the navy and he's strolling down a rather colorful waterfront boardwalk whistling to himself. I don't think it is the all-out carnival land of Coney Island, but it surely has its share of "flavorful" delights (be it sight, smell or sonic). I can hear it in the abrupt and unexpected (since it is at the VERY beginning of the work) changes in voicing and timbre hearken, in my mind, for a fragrance that is more than just sea and shore. I think Coney Island totally fits the agenda.

*Currently Listening: Set Fire To The Rain by Adele

**Photo Credits: bondno9.com