Concrete After Lightning

The scent after it rains is a favorite aromatic genre of mine—and many people as it turns out. Perfumers have a few tools to use in the category of ozone—or things that smell like water and air. Geosmin is the scent molecule released from bacteria in dirt after it rains. What’s lovely, is that the Geosmin blends with different aromatics in different environments. Whereas in the forest it smells dank yet fresh, in the city you get the scent of hot asphalt and concrete quickly cooled by rain. It is as if the whole city is boiling, overlapping in scent. and when rain and thunder come, all is released into the air in an instant. It smells fresh, unique and only of summer in the city. Concrete After Lightning is simple–you have the air, rain, steam, and some of the weeds that grow in the cracks of New York City.-D.S.