The Zero to One Sessions

Toronto-based electronica label Nice and Smooth mostly seems to specialize in a kind of electro-bossa nova, which makes the decidedly Northern Hemisphere sound of Mossyrock's debut album something of a surprise. Producer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Hug, a Canadian residing in New York, is the root of Mossyrock, and Hug favors a kind of D.I.Y. brand of indie electronica. The Zero to One Sessions isn't lo-fi or slapdash, but there's a decidedly insular feel to these low-key, meandering grooves, an appealing sense of playfulness that's quirky without being forbidding or off-putting. Elements of jazz (particularly in the loungey muted trumpet solos that decorate a few songs) and folk (the strummy acoustic guitars that propel several rhythms) are present and accounted for, but for the most part, The Zero to One Sessions explores what happens when a songwriter/producer happens upon a cool drum machine or synth rhythm, loops it, and sees what happens from there.