Gotham
Neil Morris Fragrances (2008)

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

I get a sharp, peppery opening underpinned by a salty leather, with just a whiff of the fruity note listed as yuzu. An inky narcissus begins to bloom thirty minutes in, & after an hour a beautiful rose, making this much more intensely floral than I expected. Three hours in, there's a softly animalic element, & later on I distinctly smell sandalwood, although it's not listed. I don't get any amber/labdanum, but it's still going softly after eight hours.

With a name like "Gotham", I thought this would have a much darker, almost menacing feel, & be somehow more traditionally masculine. But far from suggesting "bat cave" to me, it's more of an English country garden, filled with rambling roses & crammed with narcissi. And all the more lovely for it.

Peppery, yuzu fruit on top. Dark, almost woody rose and narcissus notes in the middle. A kind of roasted, honeyed sweetness exposes itself a bit later. Smoldering amber, myrrh, and labdanum. Old leather smell.
A windless evening in late autumn. The coziness of an indoor fire. The feel, of the excitement of a new love, in its early stages. A very evocative perfume.

Thus far, the best fragrance I found in the Neil Morris' range. A leathery / ambery oriental with chyprey/musky facets. It could easily be one of those *french* animalic florals from the 80s. Dark, velvety and kind of gothic too yet not particularly distinctive...

Nice though...

A complicated and involved fragrance that hovers somewhere between classic perfumery and the present. Up front is a lightly peppered citrus that recalls masculine aromatics, but it's paired with a leather and something that reminds me of cardboard (not norlimbanol). These notes converge into a rich, leathery amber that's warm and evocative, yet also quite dark and moody, calling up images of the underbelly of high society. It does smell a tad home-spun, I suppose, but that's generally a positive thing in my book as it tends to infer the breaking of rules. Gotham stands alone, perfectly reflecting the city of its namesake in which one can be surrounded by millions of people yet remain totally anonymous.

Finally i've tried this mysterious fragrance whose the evocative  name, the colour of the juice, the aroused aura and relative reviews were thrilling me by months. Gotham exudes the arcane, camphoraceous, sinister smell of a late afternoon in an old medieval town. The general atmosphere is gothic even if oddly  contemporary. The darkness is not obscurity in here but the shadow of an overcast sky. The smell is very intense, leathery, rosey and woodsy (i would say better that i detect some similarities with the smell of some mold, mushrooms, truffles or anyway with the smell of umid, stuffy, claustrophobic, mildewed subterraneous cellars). I don't detect black pepper or better i smell some spiciness and saltiness but not the initial pungency of pepper. I agree who with writes about indolic floral smell from the duo rose-narcissus. I detect in the dry down that sort of smouldering incensey-boise' kind of smell proper of the chord of strong amber, olibanum, labdanum, musk and leather. On this sphere i notice a certain similarity with the Mazzolari fragrances which anyway use to be  more smouldering and brewing than Gotham. A very well made creation, with excellent projection and longevity, with averagely natural ingredients and with a captivating strange "vintage-modern" temperament.

Finally i've tried this mysterious fragrance whose the evocative  name, the colour of the juice, the aroused aura and relative reviews were thrilling me by months. Gotham exudes the arcane, camphoraceous, sinister smell of a late afternoon in an old medieval town. The general atmosphere is gothic even if oddly  contemporary. The darkness is not obscurity in here but the shadow of an overcast sky. The smell is very intense, leathery, rosey and woodsy (i would say better that i detect some similarities with the smell of some mold, mushrooms, truffles or anyway with the smell of umid, stuffy, claustrophobic, mildewed subterraneous cellars). I don't detect black pepper or better i smell some spiciness and saltiness but not the initial pungency of pepper. I agree who with writes about indolic floral smell from the duo rose-narcissus. I detect in the dry down that sort of smouldering incensey-boise' kind of smell proper of the chord of strong amber, olibanum, labdanum, musk and leather. On this sphere i notice a certain similarity with the Mazzolari fragrances which anyway use to be  more smouldering and brewing than Gotham. A very well made creation, with excellent projection and longevity, with averagely natural ingredients and with a captivating strange "vintage-modern" temperament.

Bigsly nailed this for me: it's a little like Ysatis (which I used to love) wrapped in narcissus (meh) with a warm undertow of leather and amber. I don't know what to make of it, quite, on the one hand, the opening blast is a little too sweet for me, and the drydown is old-school amber and labdanum. But then again, just when you think you've got it pegged as something from grandma's closet or your hippie college days, you catch the pepper or the leather or that leafy note (myrtle?) and it impresses with its layers. It's overwhelmingly masculine and overwhelmingly feminine at the same time--and that's both the beauty and the beast of it.I'm not so much neutral about this as ambivalent. I don't know that I'll ever invest in a full bottle, but I know I'll be back.

Amber and leather dominate this and they are quite potent. The opening is bitter and a touch peppery, light herbal pepper like finely crushed tarragon or another leafy spice that's peppery. And, hey, rose! Argh I don't like rose... but the rose is calm here and sometimes mingles with the peppery accord. Very nice. Just too much strength for me. But... just let this drydown for you and see how it goes. Seems like everyone gets something a little different.I'm torn. I like this yet I will never ever find a use for owning a bottle but I'd recommend it for others. Namely those that like the strong stuff from years past but needs something that is more... modern? I like the quality. I like the texture. It's on the animalic side yet feels "fresher" (maybe "not as loud"?) than something other leather and amber scents that just turn on me. On a guy? It's masculine. On a gal? It's feminine. On the weird person in the corner muttering to himself? It's unisex.I will give one very positive, very subjective comment: it's darned sexy and it depends on who wears it.

Polished woods, myrtle, myrrh, rose, leather and amber in the base. Warm and dark and very masculine.

Neil Morris GothamEarly on in my exploration of niche lines I was introduced to Neil Morris' perfumes by ComDiva. I ordered some samples and have become a fan of his creations. Neil Morris creates dense landscapes of notes that can be overwhelming at times but when he gets it right this density feels like immersion in a personal scented wonderland. Of all of his scents Gotham is my favorite. Gotham begins with an intense mix of yuzu and pepper, the spice and floral character mixed just right. The transition into the heart is subtle and beuatiful as narcissus is the core around which rose and leather are wound in intense strands of complexity. If you are not a fan of narcissus I think the intensity of the note could be off-putting. For me, it is beautiful and indolic and twists and turns with the leather and rose to make beautiful music. Very slowly this gives way to a warm amber, redwood and ambergris base which leaves me feeling warm and comforted in the drydown. This is as intense a scent as I own and every time I wear it I feel surrounded by beauty and a scent who's complexity allows me to discern new nuances upon every wearing. This is easily one of the top 10 scents that I own.