Chiraz Mouradian crafted three fragrances for the WPC presentation: Slow Morning, Highway 61 and Night Shadow, all with vastly different inspirations.Chiraz Mouradian
The Encounter
It all started last January at the American Society Perfumer's (ASP) Annual Dinner in New York, where I was introduced as an apprentice member. During my trip, I had lunch with James Krivda, ASP's president. We discussed life, career, and culture, and when I mentioned being a musician, he proposed a multimedia project combining music and fragrance for the ASP booth at the upcoming WPC. Though five months seemed short, the opportunity was a fun challenge, so I accepted. I began conceptualizing pairing three fragrances with three pieces of music.
Fragrance Inspirations
To fully immerse the audience in the experience, I selected distinctly different themes. The initial concept focused on a progression from slow to fast, ending in chaos. Gradually, I crafted stories around each theme.
The first theme embodies slowness and calmness, characterized by tenderness, softness, and a milky, musky, healing, and sunny aura. I drew inspiration from a personal memory of a Sunday morning during the first snowfall.
The second concept revolves around speed and energy. As spring was making its presence felt, I found inspiration while driving with the windows down, blasting SRV, and breathing in the crisp air. The idea was to capture the essence of a bike ride on Highway 61—a blues tale in motion.
The third concept embraced chaos and it was actually suggested by my wife. I’m obsessed with the show The Walking Dead, and with that inspiration, I decided to create a night of survival in a post-apocalyptic zombie world.
Slow Morning
When I began working on Slow Morning, I knew immediately I wanted to create a fragrance centered around a milk note. I crafted the milk note using a touch of sulfurol, ensuring it wasn't overly gourmand. I paired it with a delicate solar tiare beginning with a green note of hexenyl cis-3 salicylate. This was slightly creamy, thanks to dodecalactone delta over a gentle base of sandalwood, musk, and orris. Ethylene brassylate sustained the milk's sweetness, while cashmeran diffused the solar floral note. Lemon terpenes added a freshness to the pear, soon giving way to an opaque, shiny coconut note. The effect I aimed for was a comforting cloud of solar milk—a slow morning opening to our souls.
This inspiration struck me during a snowy weekend a few months ago. As I watched the intensely white snow blanket the radiant landscape, I picked up my guitar, captivated by the hypnotic moment. Sitting by the large living room window, I began playing C major and D major chords with open strings, producing an ethereal, suspended sound reminiscent of the C Lydian mode, which I hadn't explored before. The melody I sang over was calm and otherworldly. I recorded it, sensing its potential for further development. When I revisited this concept, I expanded the melody with a hip-hop beat and added a chorus effect to the guitar for a lo-fi vibe. I also composed a second part that transitions into more jazz-style soloing, using a classic jazz chord progression of 2-5-1 in C major (Dm7-G13-Cmaj7-C6).
The song modulates from the celestial, dreamy C Lydian of the first part, capturing the blurred, ethereal sensation of waking up, to the second part in C major, which is brighter and more grounded, evoking the emotion of being fully awake and aware as a new day unfolds.
American Society of Perfumers' president James Krivda (pictured) welcoming attendees to the society's World Perfumery Congress booth.PETER WYNN THOMPSON
Highway 61
The second concept revolved around a bike ride from the Midwest to the South with a leather jacket. I aimed to capture this journey in a fragrance, crafting a fresh leather scent infused with elements of the ride. I created a fougère featuring a fresh leather note. The bergamot of the South complemented by the stemone cypress of the North, married beautifully with the cool air created by aldehyde C11 and cardamom CO2. To evoke the springtime muguet of the Midwest, I used the fresh floral note of biomuguet paired with Calone, which provided a watery sillage reminiscent of Lake Michigan and the New Orleans coast. For the leather note, I combined Habanolide, Methyl Gamma Ionone Extra, Kephalis, and Norlimbanol, resulting in a lasting and satisfying scent.
I was deeply inspired by SRV and sought to recreate the vibe of songs like "Tightrope" or Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child." I wanted something that sounded both aggressive and fluid, so I composed a classic 12-bar blues in A minor with a mix of composed and improvised A minor pentatonic and Dorian solos. The first and second parts of the song adhere to a traditional blues sound, while the third introduces a psychedelic element to capture the hypnotic feel of the road. I played using the first and second positions of the pickups on a Fender Stratocaster to add depth and bass.
Lastly, I decided to integrate the sound of a bike into the song. By sliding on the fretboard with a saturated tone, I mimicked a bike speeding. It added a touch of movement to the composition.
Night Shadows
The third concept was to craft a plum scent that evokes the image of dried blood on clothes after a night of survival in a zombie apocalypse. I aimed to avoid convention and instead played with the saturation of raw materials to recreate an atmosphere of stress, chaos, and destruction. To achieve this, I envisioned an oud built with a lot of patchouli, Cypriol, and Gurjun balsam to stay true to its balsamic and raw character. I played with the animalic notes of lily with ylang oil, indole, and para-cresyl acetate. To deepen the darkness, I added castoreum absolute and Muscenone for a leather and fecal note. The gunshot smoke is constructed with redistilled Cade and Olibanum resinoid.
The heart of the plum note is damascenone, at its maximum IFRA limit allowed, it’s linked to the leather and oud with safraleine. The top note consists of bergamot, fir needle, and mandarin oil, creating an initial fuel-like effect. For a "burn them all" vibe. For the music, I immediately thought of metal in B Phrygian to give a dark, oriental sound. I began with an intro that gradually builds in power, mirroring the chaotic experience of surviving the night in the wild, where nothing makes sense and zombies are everywhere.
I started slow at 85 bpm, increasing to 135, then 150 for a blackout and a final explosive session. In the second part, a heavy, saturated guitar riff is layered with a Middle Eastern, Armenian-inspired melody that evokes someone running for his life. The third part is pure extreme stress, with rapid guitar strumming to create a sound of intense battle, followed by silence. Just when it seems to end, a final shot rang out.
