Natural Information Society

Natural Information Society is a Chicago ensemble led by the multi-instrumentalist and composer Joshua Abrams. Its long, repetitive pieces are built around the guimbri, the bass lute that the Gnawa of North Africa use in healing ceremonies, and they mix composition with improvisation over harmonium and percussion. The group's music is often called ecstatic minimalism, and most of its records have come out on the Eremite label, starting with Natural Information in 2010. Abrams took up the guimbri in the late 1990s after a trip to Morocco.