Pathétique by O'Driù

God save Pregoni!

Pathétique is an unexpected change among O'Driù work, almost a rupture, or however a bold twist. It has some clear connections with his previous works (vanilla, some animalic notes, a sort of almost unperceivable medicinal-anisic feel), but the overall mood and many notes are quite new for him. Basically, it opens with a surprisingly white, creamy, sweet accord (almost milky at the beginning), rotond, radiant, also rather peaceful and suspended, meditative and mystical: there's incense underneath the sweet notes, a sweet, talc, dusty, sheer kind of incense (Angelo told me he used two different incense resins here). All is permeated with a weird sort of narcotic, warm, liquid sweetness, halfway liturgic and "uterine" in a way - although I've never had the pleasure to either sit into a uterus or be able to remember the only time I've been into one for a while (and I can say the same for a church). Still this overall feel is deceptive, because shortly a subtle, dirty fog of odd darker notes arises, melting with the white clean breeze of vanilla, spices, white flowers and tonka (I'm referring to notes I smell, perhaps the actual materials aren't there). Between these two contrasting axes, an earthy-rooty accord made of black truffle and vetiver. I don't know how he actually built that truffle note, but it smells quite close to truffles, and it suprisingly fits the composition perfectly, providing an exotic, slightly gassy feel of earth and roots. Plushy clouds and dirty soil, innocence and dirt: a far more "pervert" scent than the other one he made which is actually named "Xvert". I may also think of a nun, dressed in pure white, but with her dirty secrets... and tons of other clichés, so I'll stop and go back to the perfume. Which, speaking of how it actually smells, incidentally also reminded me of some early-2000s scents, notably the most "lunar", clean, futuristic-white ones, like some Costume National, Cacharel, CdG, Lang... I found here that same kind of white, spicy, exotic "whiteness", although Pathétique expresses it in a less synthetic and more complex way.
So overall, quite a remarkable twist from O'Driù's previous style, which was quite more on the herbal/spicy/dark side, more animalic too, and in a way more obsessive and organic. Pathétique is surely quite close to Eva Kant and Peety, still delivering that mellow, ambiguous, woody, rooty, medicinal, mesmerizing feel all over; but enhancing cleanliness, whiteness, sweetness and gracefulness. Personally I find it incredibly refined and honestly irresistible, besides being complex and interesting to "elaborate" and discover - it's also simply a great scent to wear, it's sophisticated, vibrant, warm, unisex. The drydown is fairly drier than the previous phases, always sweet but more dusty, with  a darker feel of benzoin, perhaps even a hint of castoreum, then woods, and then again earthy and rooty notes, leather (I think) and a slight metallic feel. More "grey" than white at this stage, with still a weird "fog" all over which provides a feel of talc, just dirtened with dust and soil - I think it's still the truffle note, however that is built (aldehydes?). Pathétique may sound complex (and it is), and surely my erratic review won't help in clarifying how it smells, but the scent is not messy for sure. One of Pregoni's main talents is to manage to stuff a load of notes, shades and nuances in tightly-packed, perfectly harmonic blends, and this is the case too. Pathétique is elegant, versatile, friendly, even "easy" if you don't mind to explore it, and that is a great achievement for sure – to manage to create a scent which can be "read" and used at different levels. Compelling, honest, true creativity at its best. Finally, sillage is huge and so is persistence (money well spent, in short). Better try it first, but if you like it, a full bottle is a good investment for sure. Another (almost the only...) highlight of 2014 for me.

9/10