Cosmic Gardens: A Multi-Sensory Concert with Smells, Sounds, and Visuals

The idea is simple, but the execution very complex. To associate, with a musical creation, not only images but also… smells. A concert to listen to, see and feel: this is the multi-sensory show offered by Clement Mercet and Ugo Charron, the duo of Cosmic Gardens, on Friday June 23 au National Sawdust, a venue in Brooklyn known for its experimental shows. ” I’ve had this on my mind since I was 15remembers Ugo Charron, the “nose” of the group – he is a perfumer by profession. And when I met Clément, it immediately hooked him “. It was in 2019, and since the two French people have been working on this project, ” not easy to set up “, they acknowledge.

The duo invites to an introspective exploratory journey, from the roots of nature to space exploration », from the sensory to the spiritual, from the organic to the artificial. The very name of the duo tells their story : « Ugo is more electro and techno, more cosmicexplains Clément Mercet, who also works at French Morning, and me, (multi) instrumentalist and more organic “. Their logo (above) symbolizes, he says, the living organism at the origin of all living species. ” Our show tells both our attachment to nature and our thirst for exploration, space. Everyone has their sensitivity to smell, with their little Madeleine de Proust olfactory – sea spray and wild celery from Brittany for Clément Mercet, the “ slight burning smell of the old miniature train from his childhood for Ugo Charron.

The show is made up of three stages: it will begin in the depths of the oceans, with a whole musical universe, sounds of the wind, visuals ” and a more figurative smell: that of the dark sea, of seaweed », specifies the perfumer; it will continue in the terrestrial nature – smells of tropical rainforest, “ with only natural, biodegradable ingredients and a more acoustic sound, without electro; and it will end up in space, the cosmos – abstract smell because “ no one really knows the smell of the cosmos. Some scientific articles relate stories of astronauts who have gone on exploration, it smells a bit like gunpowder ».

Ugo Charron, through the company he works for (Mane), has around 1500 ingredients at his disposal to create the scents, each formula comprising between 5 and 100 ingredients. It took many tests to arrive at those that the duo wanted and which will be distributed in the concert hall by specific diffusers, used in particular in hotels. Getting exactly the right smell, in the right dose for the audience, and stringing together different smells, is “ a huge challenge technique, recognize the two musicians. Each environment has its own smell, but also its visuals, created by Valentin Delouis, “chief graphic designer” and VJed by Dmitry Trekhsvyatsky who will project visual elements to match the sounds.

A show thought out in all its dimensions – “ only taste and touch are missingsaid Clément Mercet with a smile, but we will come to it –much more successful than last year’s at Lincoln Center because the Cosmic Gardens had not been authorized to diffuse perfumes, and that at the Avant Gardner last March. A pleasure for the senses to be discovered on Friday June 23 at the National Sawdust. Doors open at 7pm, first part at 8pm, provided by Derek Muro, an American musician from Los Angeles, with a musical universe close to that of Cosmic Gardens.