Work on the album began in earnest in early 2013, with frontman Gustav Wood stating that they had a few songs that were "half-written at best".

[6] The band, inspired and motivated by their success with their single "Bones", which topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart in 2013,[7][8] but still decided to make a change in their sound, both as a desire to not repeat themselves as artists, and to create music they personally would want to both make and listen to themselves.

[1] By mid-2013, the band started a month-long session of writing, demoing, and pre-production work for the album.

[10] Still, the band took it; as it allowed for a lot of access to the studio, which lead to improved efficiency, with less rough "home-recorded" demos, and more higher quality ones in a faster amount of time.

[1] The band's first choice had been to work with pop music producer Ariel Rechtshaid, though plans feel through upon learning of the two-year waiting list for his services, in addition to stylistic concerns, with wanting to ultimately still create a rock record.

Wood and guitarist Fraser Taylor rewrote the chorus to the track "Lullaby" 10 times before settling on the final version in the last recording sessions.

[4] As with the band's prior albums, the lyrics were largely written by Wood about his own personal experiences.

[12] He also tried to make the lyrics less "confessional", instead moving more into themes related to staying positive in the face adversity.

AllMusic praised Woods' vocals as a stand-out aspect, concluding that he is "...a solid vocalist with the kind of clean, power-forward croon that lends itself well to the material, and the band digs in with gusto... just letting the needle stay in the red, but it's hard not to feel like the whole affair is just one long song in search of an epic sports achievement montage.

Ones and Zeroes marks more chances taken than on any of their previous albums, and the result is sophisticated alt-rock whose only flaw is a reliance on the emotional impact of juxtaposing slow openings and raucous choruses.