Songfacts®:

• After Sleater-Kinney went on a hiatus in 2006, band member Corin Tucker took a regular job working for her father in marketing and web design. When her dad's company was bought by a big corporation, she was let go. This stormy power ballad finds her singing of the depression this brought about.
  
  Reach out, the darkness
  Is winning again
  Reach out and see me
  I'm losing my head
  
  "My brain went: argh, too much," she recalled to The Guardian. Tucker added good came out of it as it gave her the freedom to be 100% an artist again.
• "Reach Out" was recorded for The Center Won't Hold. The album was produced by Annie Clark, who is professionally known as St. Vincent. Corin Tucker and her bandmate Carrie Brownstein were full of praise for Clark's contribution towards the album.
  
  "Annie became a really strong, almost old-school producer," recalled Tucker to Q magazine. "When I first had the lyrics [for 'Reach Out'] they were more metaphorical and Annie was like I think it could be a lot clearer. She really challenged me to rewrite that song. She encouraged me in a way that didn't make me feel defensive. It was so fun to be pushed like that by someone I respect and come out with a stronger song."