Smell the Sound

While writing the lyrics to her new album, electronic musician and vocalist Zola Jesus retreated to the woods of Vashon Island in Washington. The location proved fruitful in terms of her inspiration—Jesus named her album Taiga, which means forest in Russian, and partnered with up-and-coming Seattle-based design studio Blackbird to create a woodsy scent as unconventional album art. The fragrance, also called Taiga, counts teak, cedar, black pepper, sandalwood, oak, and nutmeg among its notes—and channels the same“sovereignty of the woods, humanizing burn of smoke, and the ancient elements,” that informed her creative process.