“Taking Chances” by Sharon Van Etten

"Taking Chances" is from Are We There, the fourth album Sharon Van Etten released on Jagjaguwar in May 2014, and the credits show how much of it she built herself: she wrote it, co-produced it with Stewart Lerman, and plays guitar, organ, bass and omnichord, with Doug Keith on guitar, Mickey Free on percussion, and Heather Woods Broderick and Jana Hunter singing with her. James Frazee recorded it and Richard Swift mixed.

The album drew on a wide spread of touchstones, from Lee Hazlewood and Bobby Womack to Suicide, Low and PJ Harvey, and its title skips the question mark on purpose: Van Etten meant it as open-ended, a question she keeps asking herself and a pun on life in transit. Critics lined up behind it, with AllMusic's Fred Thomas hearing inventive arrangements and a clear step forward in her songwriting.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.