Description
Targa, formerly known as Taiga, began as a collaboration with singer Zola Jesus, who joined forces with Blackbird to create a fragrance and incense.
“Cold incense and woods burning in the distance of a frozen modern terrain. Targa harnesses earth’s primal smoke and restructures it to feel fresh and contemporary in our ever evolving world.”—Blackbird
Targa features notes of Guaiacwood, Teak, Oud, Copaiba Balsam, Indian Frankincense, Cedar, Black Pepper, Nutmeg, Choya Loban, Nagarmotha, Omani Frankincense, Sandalwood, Green Peppercorn, Smoke, Oak, Cistus, Ambrette, Myrrh, Davana, Helichrysum, Geranium, Vetiver, Caraway and Opopanax. Targa was launched in 2015. The nose behind this fragrance is Aaron Way.
Auyrnim – :
I could not find this fragrance via Fragrantica’s search due to the name change. It is quite elusive! I have an older sample with the “Taiga” name.
Targa/Taiga is insanely smoky and reminds me of straight-up barbecue! Similar to liquid smoke and like what many companies use to simulate bacon in their products. I feel that this covers up a lot of the complexity as I do not get the sophistication of a bonfire or sparkling embers like some other reviewers. I do get a tiny and quick hint of sweetness that peeks out and is gone within a second. To me, this scent is deep and potent, resiny and charred. Not cozy at all, no marshmallows over this campfire! A forest fire is very fitting.
Reminds me a fair bit of Lush’s dry scalp hair treatments that use Cade Oil.
tezin31rus – :
There are some similarities of this to HOM’s Black No.1.
First of all, both carry a conifer base which used by Northwest Coast perfumers current. It is something I have noticed first in Olympic Orchids offerings, then HOM Black, Durbano Tourmaline and now in Zola Jesus.
Second, they both point to Black Leather.
Black No. 1 points to Polished Cordovans lightly scuffed by the pedals of my DB9 whereas Zola points to Polished Cordovans that have been on a journey through the bush, through the ash of a dry, burned forest, scorched by the heat of a bonfire. Dusty and heavily scuffed.
Zola gets top marks from me as it has opening notes similar to the Snarly Olive oil assaults used by Pregoni.
Zola is a dirty, butchy and bitchy Bobcat.
Black No.1 is cleaner, prettier and purring Jaguar.
Love them both.
May 18,2016
Up my rating on this. Green Peppercorn is true. The drydown is exceptional. I feel as if I have been cleansed by the Conifer, Salt of the Pacific Northwest burn.
vitto1011 – :
Blackbird is an (IMHO) underrated house out of the Northwest that makes Lumbersexual-friendly scents full of wood, smoke, and incense (N.B., they also make actual incense). My favorites among their early offerings were austere, minimalist scents of few notes each (and fabulous incendiary names like Pipe Bomb and Tinderbox). This one is a little different…
There are some twenty-five notes in this fragrance, including at least a half a dozen each of various woods and incenses. “That,” as Tim Gunn would say, “is a lot of look.” Even the name Zola Jesus Taiga is quite a mouthful.
I usually like to try picking out individual notes—if only for my own edification—but there are so many here that there’s not much to do here besides get down and roll around in them. The one note that does stick out for me is frankincense, and even then I am stymied for I cannot pretend that I know the difference between Indian frankincense and Omani frankincense, both of which are listed.
It’s a dark scent; the color of the juice alone should be enough to tell you that. It’s smoky, certainly, though unlike some perfumes that shall remain nameless, it doesn’t leave you smelling like you spent too long at the BBQ pit or the jazz club. Above all, I suppose that it’s the smell of primordial fire, because if people have been setting it on fire for a long time you can bet it’s in here.
I was a little frightened by this perfume at first, but my experience has shown me that though it is a strong scent up close, you can wear this quite easily without people looking at you like you just committed arson. It’s a lot, yes, but it’s not too much.
Update: I see they have changed the name. Good call.
evgenya-kulesy – :
Thank you to Blackbird for the opportunity to try this remarkable scent. Excerpt from my published review on Fragrantica:
There are many notes here that could easily pull this fragrance towards the traditional oriental fragrances of the Middle East, but there’s a density here that speaks more of temperate climates than shifting desert sands. Zola Jesus Taiga is the scent of a hermit’s cabin hidden deep in the woods, where the sole inhabitant spends days and nights contemplating the mysteries of existence before an altar of burning incense. Intact trees of the forest surround the split wood cabin, which in turn surrounds the firelight and gentle glow of incense embers as the fragrance spirals on an inward journey to the depths of the soul.
Longevity is amazing at 10+ hours, with powerful sillage for the first two hours before the fragrance settles into something warm, sweet and resinous on the skin.