I Could Live in Hope | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | February 18, 1994 | |||
Recorded | Autumn 1993 | |||
Studio | Noise New Jersey, Hope Township, New Jersey[1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 57:05 | |||
Label | Vernon Yard | |||
Producer | Mark Kramer | |||
Low chronology | ||||
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I Could Live in Hope is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Low. It was released on February 18, 1994, on Vernon Yard Recordings.
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."[3][4] 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.[5][4][6][7]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Chicago Tribune | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
NME | 7/10[9] |
Q | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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."[8]
Featuring an "unprecedent pace in the then-flowering underground,"[4] I Could Live in Hope helped to birth the genre known as slowcore, which encompassed acts from Bedhead to Codeine throughout the 1990s.[6]
Pitchfork placed I Could Live in Hope at number 49 on its 1999 list of the best albums of the 1990s.[11] 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.[12] In 2004, the album was included in Les Inrockuptibles' "50 Years of Rock'n'Roll" list.[13] In 2018, Pitchfork placed it at number 22 on its list of the 30 best dream pop albums.[14]
All tracks are written by Alan Sparhawk, Mimi Parker and John Nichols, except where noted
No. | Title | Lead vocals | Length |
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1. | "Words" | Sparhawk | 5:45 |
2. | "Fear" | Sparhawk | 2:12 |
3. | "Cut" | Sparhawk | 5:43 |
4. | "Slide" | Parker | 3:46 |
5. | "Lazy" | Sparhawk | 5:35 |
6. | "Lullaby" | Parker | 9:46 |
7. | "Sea" | Sparhawk, Parker | 1:45 |
8. | "Down" | Sparhawk | 7:24 |
9. | "Drag" | Sparhawk | 5:11 |
10. | "Rope" | Sparhawk | 6:11 |
11. | "Sunshine" (Oliver Hood) | Sparhawk, Parker | 2:59 |
Credits adapted from the liner notes of I Could Live in Hope.[15]