Chattermark

Video playlist with 12 videos on YouTube:

Chattermark is:

John Lilja – El. Bass and effects

Gunhild Seim – Trumpet and effects

Concerts 2024:

5/10 2024 Mullbau, Lucerne, Switzerland

9/10 2024 Panda Jazz, Berlin, Germany

Their self-titled debut “Chattermark” (see Bandcamp link below) was released September 2022 and the release tour went to:

1/10 2022 Orgelnatt, Stavanger Konserthus, Norway with guest Nils Henrik Asheim

10/10 2023 PROGR, Pakt Bern, Bern, Switzerland
14/10 2023 C13, Christburger Str. 13, Berlin, Germany
17/10 2023 Kunsthaus Troisdorf Troisdorf, Germany 

Check out our:

Facebook – Instagram – Bandcamp

“…a very daring, courageous and shocking piece of new music, visionary and coherent, and an incredible listening experience” Stef Gijssels, Free Jazz Collective

“Chattermark’s music is liberated and courageous. It has twists and turns inspired by the duo’s sense of savagely beautiful ugliness and slow-moving power” Arild R. Andersen, Jazz i Norge

“Lilja and Seim structured seven distinct pieces that move between minimalist to massive and intense soundscapes, using drones, distortion, repetitive structures and slow burning noise. Their dense sonic compounds make it almost impossible to know which sound – acoustic, electronic, mutated, or processed, is coming from which instrument. All the pieces have a strong cinematic quality, and often evoke an unsettling sensibility, as if imagining and anticipating a coming apocalypse.” Eyal Hareuveni, Salt Peanuts.

After having worked together in other bands for many years, Lilja and Seim formed Chattermark out of a desire to extend and transform their sound with the use of effects and extended techniques, and create something both massive and minimalistic. In 2023 Chattermark had an extended artist residency in Berlin. The tour and residency was supported by Kulturdirektoratet, Music Norway and Stavanger Kommune.  

In 2021 Chattermark was invited to do an a.v. piece for Festival of New Trumpet Music in New York, the resulting work “Mycelium” can be checked out here. A live version of this video is included as visuals for the album release tour 2022/23. The Norwegian premiere of “Mycelium” was in Stavanger Konserthus October 1st 2022, with Nils Henrik Asheim as guest on organ. “Mycelium” was also included in the exhibition FEM – Å sette spor, November 2022.
“In the piece, visual artist Signe Christine Urdal and composer and musician Gunhild Seim investigates the relationship between nature and humans” Arvid Skancke-Knutsen, Ballade
“I was catapulted back to what I might call, a primeval imagination” Erol Tamerman, Festival of New Trumpet Music

John Lilja is a Norwegian-American bassist and composer/arranger. He is a versatile performer who has appeared on over 30 releases, from free jazz with Frode Gjerstad to «Outlaw Country» with Deathbarrel. He has released two albums as a leader, Robblerobble1 og Robblerobble2, with music that combines contemporary improvised music, stoner rock and chamber jazz. After graduating with a degree in jazz composition from Berklee College of Music, his focus turned towards freer forms of improvisation and exploring the bass’s sonic possibilities. «Lilja was especially noteworthy – as lithe and flexible as the music demanded; at times he was a firm anchor, but elsewhere a contrapuntal arco partner…» allaboutjazz.com
Gunhild Seim is a Norwegian composer and trumpet player. Through an interest in slow and gradual transformations she is aiming to create music that holds the listener’s attention. She seeks both gravity and playfullness in her work and has a fondness for the slightly disrupted. She has worked with artists such as Marilyn Crispell and Kitchen Orchestra. Her music has been performed at Nordic Music Days, Festival of New Trumpet Music, Borealis Festival, as well as in jazz- and improv clubs and festivals internationally. Her output involves chamber music and electroacoustic music as well as several releases with improvisation groups such as Gunhild Seim and Time Jungle.
“An uncanningly expressive player” Jazztimes Magazine.

Self-titled album “Chattermark” out September 2022
Recorded at Tou Lyd by Jens Borge
Mixed by Steven Grant Bishop
Mastered by Chris Sharkey
Still photo by Tormod Rossavik