Saltbreaker - Glass Aviary Remixes (Astrologic)

The Slow Music Movement
Sep 11, 2025
2 min read

The cover of Saltbreaker's Glass Aviary Remixes album, showing a close-up of a textured, abstract purple flower against a dark background. Delicate petals and wispy fibers create a dreamlike mood.

Saltbreaker is the wordless ambient project of Detroit's John Hanson, and an admirable attempt to map the gentler paths that snake through the ambient, new age and modern classical multiverses using just electroacoustic means and some choice collaborations, the ambient jazz of "Moment" being a particular TSMM fave.

Saltbreaker, aka John Hanson sits on a chair in a lush garden with tall green trees and plants. A keyboard is nearby. The mood is peaceful. Blue sky above.

The Glass Aviary album was a lovely gentle, crystalline electroacoustic ambient LP that sounded like an idyllic summer day in the well kept flower garden of a rural retreat. Intrigued to see what other people could do with the tracks Saltbreaker uploaded the stems and let anyone who cared to remix the project, and the results are impressive.

The well named Nap Party really went to town on "Fell T, taking the album's closing track and accentuating its acoustic qualities with some classy, well judged violin and whimsical guitar playing, in fact it's more of a remake than a remix - really impressive. One of my pet hates, Fake Plants, takes the whispered, minimal ambient piano of "Spirit 11", ramps up the keys and intensity to fine ambient neoclassical effect. Silent Spirit, the only remixer I was familiar with, takes away the twinkling sonic detailing to concentrate on the drones, giving "Holiday" an alien moon vibe. Christian Somerville pays a bit more respect to the original of "Highway Spirits", tinkering rather twisting, most noticeable by upping the pleasant surface noise throughout the track.

Jeffrey Niemeier starts off gently with the glass chiming, "The Mirror", but as a statement of intent changes the name to "Mirror Courage" and adds a few beefier pads for a still sedate, but less ignorable ambient journey. Last up is Steve Leaf who is definitely more of a twister than a tinkerer and decides that sample grabbing, looping, and a beat injection is the way forward, ending this fine set of remixes with a patiently building and intensifying slice of downtempo electronica. It's a really great set of remixes and a satisfying start to finish listen that spans the ambient spectrum, and a crowd sourced triumph - power to the people.