I Could Live in Hope

I Could Live in Hope is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Low. It was released on December 2, 1994 on Vernon Yard Recordings.

I Could Live in Hope
Studio album by
Low
ReleasedDecember 2, 1994 (1994-12-02)
RecordedAutumn 1994
StudioNoise New Jersey, Hope Township, New Jersey[1]
Genre
Length57:05
LabelVernon Yard
ProducerMark Kramer
Low chronology
I Could Live in Hope
(1994)		 Long Division
(1995)

Background and composition

A reaction to the abrasiveness of alternative rock in the early 1990s, when grunge had reigning popularity, Low "eschewed conventional songwriting in favour of mood and movement."[2][3] Influenced by Brian Eno and Joy Division, the band, working with long-time producer and New York underground mainstay Mark Kramer, favored slow-paced compositions, a minimum of instrumentation and an economy of language.[4][3][5][6]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Chicago Tribune[7]
NME7/10[8]
Q[9]

I Could Live in Hope received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics. Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot felt that "its heavy-lidded drama creeps by in all-enveloping slow motion" and called it "the best record made for those dreary, nothing's-going-on-and-I-want-to-crawl-into-a-hole afternoons since Galaxie 500's debut."[7]

Legacy

Featuring an "unprecedent pace in the then-flowering underground,"[3] I Could Live in Hope helped to birth the genre known as slowcore, which encompassed acts from Bedhead to Codeine throughout the 1990s.[5]

Pitchfork placed I Could Live in Hope at number 49 on its 1999 list of the best albums of the 1990s.[10] The same year, critic Ned Raggett ranked it at number 37 on his list of "The Top 136 or So Albums of the Nineties" for Freaky Trigger.[11] In 2004, the album was included in Les Inrockuptibles' "50 Years of Rock'n'Roll" list.[12] In 2018, Pitchfork placed it at number 22 on its list of the 30 best dream pop albums.[13]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Alan Sparhawk, Mimi Parker and John Nichols, except where noted.

No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Words"Sparhawk5:45
2."Fear"Sparhawk2:12
3."Cut"Sparhawk5:43
4."Slide"Parker3:46
5."Lazy"Sparhawk5:35
6."Lullaby"Parker9:46
7."Sea"Sparhawk, Parker1:45
8."Down"Sparhawk7:24
9."Drag"Sparhawk5:11
10."Rope"Sparhawk6:11
11."Sunshine" (Oliver Hood)Sparhawk, Parker2:59

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of I Could Live in Hope.[14]

Low
Additional personnel
  • Mark Kramer – production
  • Steve Watson – assistant production
  • Low – artwork
  • Gerree Small – inner sleeve photography

References
  1. Low Live at KJHK-FM on 1994-05-02, Interview (part 2), Archive.org. Accessed March 15, 2020.
  2. Buckley, Peter (October 30, 2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. p. 615. ISBN 978-1843531050.
  3. Earles, Andrew (October 9, 2014). Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996. Voyageur Press. pp. 177–178. ISBN 978-0760346488.
  4. Taylor, Ken. "I Could Live in Hope – Low". AllMusic. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
  5. Everhart, John (June 5, 2013). "Low Albums From Worst To Best". Stereogum. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  6. Sprague, David (April 1, 1995). "Vernon Yard/Virgin Is Counting on Low's 'Long-Division'". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. p. 14. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  7. Kot, Greg (February 24, 1994). "Low: I Could Live in Hope (Vernon Yard)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  8. "Low: I Could Live in Hope". NME. September 3, 1994. p. 52.
  9. "Low: I Could Live in Hope". Q. No. 96. September 1994. p. 102.
  10. "Top 100 Albums of the '90s". Pitchfork. p. 6. Archived from the original on February 25, 2003. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  11. Raggett, Ned. "The Top 136 Or So Albums Of The Nineties". Freaky Trigger. Archived from the original on January 20, 2000. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
  12. "I Could Live in Hope". Acclaimed Music. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
  13. "The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums". Pitchfork. April 16, 2018. p. 1. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  14. Low (1994). I Could Live in Hope (Media notes). Vernon Yard Recordings.



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