Let Me Out

A butterfly has just left the cocoon. Its wings still struggle to open, and its antennae faintly catch the grassland, the sky and the earth, invisible but known. The starting point is David Tao's song "Butterfly", alongside a night under the stars of Sha Xī, torn between wanting to stay alone and wanting to step out into the freedom of nature. Out of that comes the hope of rebirth. Labdanum, fermented wool and orris build the cocoon, called Leave Me Alone. Perilla and turmeric leaves help cut a gap in it. Perilla, a highlight of Asian cooking, rarely goes into a bottle. It is zesty and moist, somewhere between cumin and green peach. The wool is a rare natural animalic with a vivid, fermented streak. Bulgarian white rose, less sweet and less heavy than Damask with a touch of pear, comes in to pull everything light.