Baroque/Alt/Art Rock band, Zara blends musical genres with cinematic and symphonic sensibilities. Zara’s music “engulfs listeners in a whirlpool of emotion, enveloped by a dark, epic, and energetic ambiances, blending influences from grunge, indie rock, and alternative genres, and embodying the tumult of internal and external chaos through its evocative lyrics and captivating arrangements.” Zara was founded by Seattle-based musician and visual artist Max Zara Bernstein (she/they).
Zara released its first full length album "Unmasking Music" on September 12th, 2025. "Unmasking Music" is a fearless exploration of the beautiful, terrifying, disorienting, messy, and overwhelming experience of moving through gender transition. It’s an album born from a place of radical honesty, one that navigates the shedding of old identities, the painful and ecstatic process of rebirth, and the staggering vulnerability and integrity that transformation demands. With soaring symphonic textures, raw lyrical intensity, and moments of both quiet introspection and symphonic crescendo, the album captures a deeply human metamorphosis.
"This is an album about unmasking—about discarding the layers we often perform for others in order to avoid being seen. It’s about becoming metamorphic, and shedding the parts of ourselves that lack integrity," says Zara. "It’s about the experience of gender transition, yes—but more broadly, it's about what it means to change, to be seen, and to reclaim one’s genuineness through unapologetically stepping into one’s potency, through the power of vulnerability and visibility.”
Blending elements of art rock, baroque-pop, grunge, and alternative genres, Unmasking Music is an album as layered as its subjects. From string-drenched ballads that ache with vulnerability to explosive anthems that radiate defiance and grace, Zara continues to evolve their unique sound into something utterly their own—and utterly unforgettable. This is an album that doesn’t shy away from the space that it occupies, and instead demands singular attention from its listeners.
