Sessions for "The MZTRIO First Takes" EP brought Marcel Ziul to the studio as a guitar player, singer and producer at the service of his own music, and free from any outside pressures, (labels and managers), for the first time. Playing alongside friends he'd met throughout his career as a session musician, the recording provided the opportunity for his current band members to be selected, as Ziul played songs ranging from the rock/soul ballad "Ain't the Same" to his own blues material heard on "Gimme a Break". The music ranges from deeply introspective songs that deal with loss and learning to cope with change, such as the emotional "In Your Hands", to anger-filled odes to frustrating romantic experiences as in "Confined".