Glass Salt

Photo provided by, Glass Salt

Meet Glass Salt

Glass salt is the perfect band to enjoy on a Sunday morning. It’s easy-going but always intriguing. Their enchanting improvisations and experimental sound has impressed me since first hearing their release “greetings”. If you are someone who appreciates warm ambient tunes this is a good group for you. Get to know them a little better in our latest interview.

“THE OBSERVATORY” A fill in the blank by, Glass Salt

Our class went on a field trip to a SOFT observatory. It was located on top of a WIFFLE BAT, and it looked like a giant VOLCANO with a slit down its METEORITE. We went inside and looked through a POTATO and were able to see HUMMINGBIRDS in the sky that were millions of ORCHARDS away. The men and women who SWING in the observatory are called BELLS, and they are always watching for comets, eclipses, and shooting CRYSTALS. An eclipse occurs when INTERSTELLAR SPACE comes between the earth and the GEM and everything gets PUFFY. Next week, we plan to CHANGE the Museum of Modern CALLALOO.

Would You Rather

only eat burritos or pizza for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

Johann: I think burritos would probably provide more variety, but I think I’ve had more pizza in my life versus burritos so….I think I’d choose burritos!

Caylie: I would also choose burritos! Fresh jalapeños, the ability to switch it up - lifelong burrito possibilities! 

Some questions with Glass Salt

Where do you draw inspiration for your varied textures and melodies?

Caylie: Listening is key, an endless loop of listening and creation. Sounds in the actual world. And playful exploration - “what will it sound like if I do this?” We’re also very inspired by winter, the visual, sonic and visceral experience of snow, ice, wool, wind; of the way a snowy environment impacts sound. 

Johann: The vibrations around us! Listening for the small, quiet sounds in our  everyday life. They inspire and surprise me all the time :)

What has it been like releasing your album, Greetings, during the pandemic?

Johann: It’s felt good for us to still nurture our creative selves during the pandemic, if only as a reminder of our shared humanity and both our need and capacity to create, share and care with and for each other.

Caylie: For me, it is so important during this lockdown to continue to do our creative work and to celebrate, remember and advocate for the value of making this kind of improvised work where physically being together, in the same room, and spontaneously integrating the physical space into the music is essential. It is important to me to remember and return to this way of music making.

What makes a performance success to you?

Caylie: Connected to the energy of the moment, the performer is giving it their all - whether that’s jumping around and screaming or really gently focused - the performance is exactly what the moment needs it to be.

Johann: I want to be surprised! I want to listen to something I have never experienced before, most of the time. I also want to feel good too.

What is your favorite park in New York City?

Johann: I’m fond of Transmitter Park in Greenpoint (where I live). I’ve also been enjoying McCarren Park recently to work out in.

Caylie: We had a really great glass salt evening meeting in Tompkins Square, in the East Village once. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time and when we both arrived there were fireflies everywhere, and someone started playing beautiful flute music. Prospect Park is where I’ve spent the most time.

What would be your dream location to record an album?

Caylie: I would love to record glass salt in a place with natural echo and dripping sounds, on a small boat that is able to go in and out of ocean shoreline caves. We’re also interested in doing a recording project at Niagara Falls.

Johann: Underwater? Deep in the woods, on a beach, atop a mountain, in a desert, in the Arctic.

What do you think is the place of art and music within the current climate?

Johann: To show possibilities, to help us imagine realities that don’t yet exist, and to remind ourselves of our agency and ability to affect the world.

Caylie: To live our humanity. To connect us to the poetic realms that can not be expressed or experienced except through art and music, and nature. To relate to each other and to important energies. To connect us. To inspire us to care for each other and this world.

What are the musical backgrounds of the members of glass salt?

Johann: Rap, punk/hardcore, electronic, noise. A bit of music theory in college, played the drums for years, mostly self-taught on the bass these days. I design and build most of the hardware/software for my electronic instruments!

Caylie: Improvisation, experimental, choral, rock, noise, poetics, art pop. I have a music degree from York University in Toronto. I have sought out and learned from a lot of musicians in older generations who really embody the music, have taken risks beyond the norms of their time, moved the music forward and played a ton! I’ve learned from them and my focus is to carry that forward.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Caylie: Trusting our bodies and our instincts are so important. One of the values we talk about in our art practice as glass salt is tactility. And part of what we mean by that is a valuing of the physical and material aspects of our art making, and of life. Bodily autonomy and joy and freedom is so important to me. We need to respect all bodies equally, and there are so many directions to go with what that means to each of us right now. That’s why I love the album name “greetings”. Let’s greet each other, meet each other and welcome each other. Let’s make something together that we really love.

Johann: Another world is possible!