Natural Information Society is an improvisational, spiritual ensemble assembled by avant-garde jazz bassist/composer Joshua Abrams, a veteran of Chicago's experimental music scene. The group's hypnotic sound fuses elements of minimalist classical, Krautrock, drone, free jazz, and numerous other genres, and their intimate performances are intense and exciting. Guided by Abrams' playing of the guimbri (a three-stringed bass lute originating in North Africa), the group's performances usually feature a revolving lineup. Natural Information was the title of Abrams' 2010 release on Eremite, and followed by the widely acclaimed Represencing in 2012, with cast, that included flutist Nicole Mitchell, guitarist Jeff Parker, and drummer Chad Taylor. Veteran avant jazz drummer/percussionist Hamid Drake began performing with the Society in 2015, joining them for performances and contributing to the double length Magnetoception. All three of the releases were credited to Joshua Abrams, with the group billed as Natural Information Society for live performances; the first recording properly credited to Natural Information Society was Automaginary, a collaboration with Chicago-based psych-drone group Bitchin Bajas, released by Drag City in 2015. The Society's Simultonality was released by Eremite Records in 2017. That same year between touring dates, Abrams released the solo Excavations 1 entitled on Feeding Tube Records. The following year, Abrams, drummer John Herndon, and guitarist Jeff Parker accompanied visiting Norwegian saxophonist Kjetil Moster on the fully improvised Ran Do issued by Clean Feed.

In July of 2019, Natural Information Society played London's Cafe OTO. Evan Parker joined them on soprano saxophone for the performance. Abrams and Parker met during the '90s and bonded over John Coltrane's music. Though the group had played with Parker once a few years before, their performance in 2019, consisted of a single, 75-minute improvisation. It relied heavily on the interplay between Parker's horn and Jason Stein's bass clarinet playing, evoking the spirit of Coltrane with Eric Dolphy. The uninterrupted 75-minute concert was captured by engineer James Dunn and producer Michael Ehlers. It was issued by Eremite in April 2021 as Descension (Out of Our Constrictions).

Two years later, almost to the day, Since Time Is Gravity appeared with a newly expanded incarnation of the group. Joining its core lineup -- Abrams (guimbri & bass), Alvarado (harmonium), Avery (drums) & Jason Stein (bass clarinet) -- were Hamid Drake (conga, tabla, tar), Josh Berman and Ben Lamar Gay (cornets), Nick Mazzarella & Mai Sugimoto (alto saxophones & flute), Kara Bershad (harp) & Chicago's iconic elder statesman of the tenor saxophone, Ari Brown. They dubbed themselves the Natural Information Society Community Ensemble with Ari Brown for this date, which was recorded live-to-tape at Electrical Audio & The Graham Foundation. ~ Paul Simpson