It comes from a notably different place than its predecessors. Like all In This Moment albums, Mother is its own entity. My mom is all about the earth and nature, so I’m talking to mother nature too.” I’d see all these women onstage and I truly believe that is how I began to move towards what I do now. She used to take me to concerts, to see artists like Stevie Nicks and The Runaways. Legacy is in memory of my grandfather, and the two guitar solos the guys play are for their fathers.” She says of the title-track, which fittingly features backing vocals from both Rita and Laurie: “I wrote it for my mother, saying, ‘I won’t let you fall,’ because families should take care of each other and be strong. “We were all in this deep place of reflection and mourning. The losses inevitably led to tightening circles, both of family and band, and undoubtedly formed the backdrop for the creation of their seventh album.

Guitarist Chris Howorth – the band’s co-founder and a man Maria calls her “brother” – lost his father around the same time, and immediately afterwards fellow six-stringer Randy Weitzel found himself similarly bereaved. Maria would look up and see him with his hands in the air. He was a beautiful, honourable man and I have so much respect for him.” Even into his 90s, he was turning up at In This Moment shows. “He stepped in as my father figure, and was also my son’s father figure later on. READ THIS: 11 bands who change their image on every recordīut Rita’s dad Carlos was always there for Maria.

Always finding light in the dark, she says: “I don’t struggle with it so much now, and I actually wish my dad the best.

There were “traumatic abuses” as well, perpetrated by other men. Her issues with self-worth, as challenging as they were, would inform the future art in which she ultimately found salvation. Her biological father was absent from her life, leaving the young Maria with a gaping wound of abandonment. Rita was 16 when Maria came into the world, and she was supported by family friend Laurie Barber, who the In This Moment frontwoman thinks of as a second mother. Because he loved to dance we danced around him, and as he passed we all came together and laid our hands on him.”īorn in New York state, Maria was brought up by her mother Rita, who she describes as “a beautiful, magical being”. “Some of the words describe my last sacred moments with him,” she reveals. Soon after, she wrote the song Legacy, one of the standout tracks from new album Mother, in his memory. In her formative years she’d been more cursed than blessed by the men in her world, but thankfully Carlos had always been a shining exception. As empowered and at peace as she clearly is today, Maria’s life hadn’t always been so. The man they were saying goodbye to was her grandfather, Carlos. Among those linking their souls on this bridge between life and death was Maria Brink, the singer, lyricist and visual artist behind the bewitching and endlessly creative In This Moment. When the time came, the family gently placed their hands upon the dying man.

Maria brink