Zara McFarlane’s debut album, 2011’s Until Tomorrow, came garlanded with ra… Read Full Bio ↴Zara McFarlane’s debut album, 2011’s Until Tomorrow, came garlanded with rave reviews and a MOBO award nomination, and heralded a major new talent in the world of British jazz. The follow-up, also recorded for Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings, is a more ambitious collection that draws from many more influences: from the deep spiritual jazz of Pharoah Sanders to dub and reggae.

“With the first album,” says Zara, “I was trying to create a cohesive sound, one that used the same line up and the same instrumentation throughout. This time the focus is on the songwriting, and the arrangements are tailor-made to suit each song. There’s a lot more variation – around half of the tracks are duets, and I use more than one band. If there is a unified, cohesive theme, it’s in the lyrics: the songs represent a journey through a woman’s life.”

Gilles Peterson has been a key figure in Zara’s career. They first met when she was performing with the house music project Bopstar at the Southport Weekender in May 2010, where she gave him an EP of acoustic jazz songs she’d recorded. Within a few months, an impressed Peterson had signed Zara to his Brownswood Recordings label, and that EP eventually provided the basis for her debut album Until Tomorrow.

“Gilles has been an incredibly enthusiastic person to work with,” says Zara. “With the first album, I’d recorded most of it before he’d signed me, but this time he’s been more involved in its creation and made suggestions. He’s passionate about all kinds of music, not just jazz, which has allowed me to experiment with different sounds.”

Zara McFarlane was born 30 years ago into a Jamaican family in Dagenham, on the borders of Essex and London. She grew up in a household that loved reggae (“we played it all the time – parties, social gatherings, weddings, funerals, you name it!”), as well as the R&B of Michael Jackson and Luther Vandross. Her TV debut came at the tender age of 14, when she did a Lauryn Hill impression on Stars In Their Eyes against a line-up of grown ups.

She was educated at a local comprehensive before moving to the BRIT School in Croydon in her sixth-form to study musical theatre. “I fell in love with musicals and learned tons of old showtunes,” says Zara. “I quickly realised that they were also jazz standards, and I always preferred the jazz versions.” After a BMus degree in Popular Music Performance from the Tech Music School in Acton (part of the University of West London) she started to pursue her love of jazz, studying jazz and improvisation at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

When not working on her own material, Zara has performed as a featured vocalist in Gary Crosby’s ska orchestra Jazz Jamaica, and performed with esteemed British jazzers such as Orphy Robinson, Denys Baptiste and Soweto Kinch. She’s made house music with Bopstar and paid tribute to Tammi Terrell with Norwegian DJ/producer Dalminjo. Her tracks have been remixed and reworked by the likes of Viennese techno duo Ogris Debris, Ninja Tune’s Floating Points, Afro-funker Osunlade and space-jazzers Emanative. She’s fronted Italian DJ Nicola Conte’s big band, performed at a Nina Simone tribute concert in Amsterdam and played support for South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela and American singer Gregory Porter. At the upcoming London Jazz Festival she’ll be appearing opposite Dianne Reeves (Queen Elizabeth Hall, 20 November). She also maintains a role in education, teaching workshops in vocals and improvisation around Britain and Europe.

“I love all areas of this work – the teaching, the performing – but this album showcases what I’m most into at the moment, which is writing,” she says. “These songs on this new album are more personal than anything I’ve ever written. It’s me opening up, taking listeners on a journey.”

Open Heart
Zara McFarlane Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Dear, don't tell me what to do
Once I had lost you
Now nothing's left for me
Now this ride has come through

So I guess I'll just sit back
And watch this blazing view

AN OPEN HEART IS BOTH A LOCK AND KEY
AN OPEN HEART IS BOTH A LOCK AND KEY

Could I squeeze the life back in
To what we were, was and have been?
Left all your absences
To things I wanted to believe
It's funny how I am the only one
That's left alone now, unseen

AN OPEN HEART IS BOTH A LOCK AND KEY
AN OPEN HEART IS BOTH A LOCK AND KEY

I gave and gave and gave and gave away
Everything I had to own

AN OPEN HEART IS BOTH A LOCK AND KEY
AN OPEN HEART IS BOTH A LOCK AND KEY

I never let you know
How much I loved you so

AN OPEN HEART IS BOTH A LOCK AND KEY
AN OPEN HEART IS BOTH A LOCK AND KEY

Overall Meaning

In Zara McFarlane's song Open Heart, the singer is addressing their former lover who they've lost. They feel like they have nothing left and have come to terms with the fact that their journey has moved on. There is a resignation in the lyrics as the singer acknowledges they have lost their love and cannot regain it. The line "So I guess I'll just sit back, and watch this blazing view" reflects this, as if they are resigned to being a spectator of their own life.

The repeated line "AN OPEN HEART IS BOTH A LOCK AND KEY" serves as the refrain and is open to interpretation. It seems to suggest that being emotionally open and vulnerable, i.e., having an open heart, can both unlock possibilities and opportunities while also making one susceptible to heartbreak and disappointment. It's an intriguing metaphor that portrays the complexity of being vulnerable.

The second verse focuses on the singer's regrets about the past: they wonder if they could bring back the relationship to what it once was, but it's too late. They blame themselves for believing in things they wanted to think were true despite the other person's absence in their life. The line "It's funny how I am the only one that's left alone now, unseen" further emphasizes the singer's self-blame and how they feel like they missed the signs of the breakup.

Overall, the song is a poignant reflection on heartbreak and the complex nature of being vulnerable in a relationship.

Line by Line Meaning

Dear, don't tell me what to do
I don't want your advice

Once I had lost you
I lost you before but now you're gone for real

Now nothing's left for me
You were my everything and now I have nothing

Now this ride has come through
Life has taken me on this journey without you

So I guess I'll just sit back
I'm going to take a break and observe

And watch this blazing view
I'm going to watch the world go by

Could I squeeze the life back in
Can I bring back what we once had?

To what we were, was and have been?
Can we return to our past selves?

Left all your absences
I tried to make sense of your absence

To things I wanted to believe
I created my own version of reality

It's funny how I am the only one
I'm the only one left behind