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Imaginary Authors nose Josh Meyer thought he was slick when he started rustling up the formula for what became Untamable, the Portland-based perfume company’s newest scent released Sept. 12. With its notes of leather saddle, tonka resin, saguaro blossom (the flower of the most picturesque tree-size cactus), Texas Yellowstar (a Tex-Mex cousin of the daisy) and synthetic, horsey paso fino, Untamable presents as a New Western love story by fake Millennial author Thelma T. Starr. It clip-clops down the same dusty trail as IA’s most controversial beastly blend, Bull’s Blood, without getting as down and dirty.
Work on Untamable began more than a year ago, according to a statement posted to IA’s social media platforms. Pop culture’s fascination with country and cowboy culture has steadily galloped forward since the Yeehaw Agenda trend of 2018, but the herd hadn’t stampeded yet toward some of its biggest touchstones. IA tried securing the blessing of Linda Martell—the first commercially successful Black female country musician, and the first Black female artist to play Grand Ole Opry—to name Untamable after a song of hers, “Before the Next Teardrop Falls,” unaware that another boundary-shifting creative was several steps ahead.
Meyer and IA’s creative director Ashod Simonian thought there could still be hope after Beyoncé announced her country album, Cowboy Carter, back in March. But neigh. On seeing “The Linda Martell Show” on Cowboy Carter’s track list, Meyer and Simonian felt lower than a gopher hole, as if they’d been beaten to the chase on their long-gestating idea. Before giving up on the concept, IA posted a version of Untamable called “Rootin’ Tootin’ Honky Tonka” to social media as an April Fool’s Day prank, listing gag-inducing notes like warm beer, stale cigarettes and salty tears.
Fans ate it up, begging Meyer and Simonian to make it real. And after posting research footage taken in Texas during the total solar eclipse with similarly enthusiastic results, Meyer was inspired to retool Untamable into its current unisex state.
“We don’t know of anything like it in the fragrance world,” reads IA’s follow-up post from Sept. 13. “To us, it defies trends and demands attention. If you spray it expecting ‘a fun cowgirl perfume’ or a ‘smooth cowboy cologne’ you are likely going to be disappointed. This thing will buck you off the second you open the gates.”
It’s hard to say whether Untamable is a flower-soaked leather bag or a tobacco-forward bouquet picked from the heart of a dusty horse pasture, but nonbinary buckaroos should revel in the scent’s perfect androgyny. Untamable recalls memories of a time—or the concept of a time, if you’re not old enough to remember—when smoking sections were as common as a cold. It recalls an outspoken aunt who smoked throughout your childhood, or an uncle who knew before everyone else that it was okay for men to smell like flowers.
Though it would have landed perfectly for mid-summer’s highest heat, Untamable still has plenty of time to roam free across your nostrils for the autumn ahead. In a Sept. 24 post to IA’s socials, Meyer compared Untamable to something Hermès might have developed when they switched from making saddles to handbags in 1922. He wrote that the diverse range of leather scents like Untamable are what first drew him to perfumery 12 years ago.
“I didn’t feel confident putting a perfume like this out into the world for a long time,” Meyer said. “It’s only after 12 years of intense education, trial and error, and pushing at the boundaries of fragrance with over twenty successful releases that I finally felt ready to make something this audacious.”