When unknown guitar virtuoso Tosin Abasi released his debut solo album on Prosthetic Records under the moniker ANIMALS AS LEADERS, in 2009, few predicted the band's meteoric rise over the next 2 years. Although he earned acclaim as lead guitarist in the Washington DC metalcore act Reflux, it was still a longshot that an instrumental album of prog-metal with jazz, electronic and ambient flourishes would develop anything more than a cult following.

The group's second album (also on Prosthetic Records) is another example of why the band is revered as being trailblazing pioneers of modern heavy music. Steve Vai called the band "The future of creative, heavy virtuoso playing". The diversity of their music has seen them tour with a wide variety of acts, including Deftones, Underoath, Circa Survive, Dilling Escape Plan, Thursday, Dredg and Decapitated.

'Weightless' is the first time Animals As Leaders has recorded as a true band, with Abasi on guitars, Javier Reyes (guitars) and Navene Koperweis (drums). After nearly 2 years of touring together, the trio wrote and recorded the album in mid-2011, with Koperweis and Reyes mixing.

Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes are also members of the supergroup T.R.A.M., alongside former wind instrumentalist for The Mars Volta in Adrian Terrazas, and Suicidal Tendencies‘ drummer Eric Moore.