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 February 18, 1994, on Vernon Yard Recordings.^[2]

I Could Live in Hope
Studio album by Low
Released	February 18, 1994 (1994-02-18)
Recorded	Autumn 1993
Studio	Noise New Jersey [1]
Genre	Slowcore dream pop
Length	57:05
Label	Vernon Yard
Producer	Mark 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."^[4][5] Influenced by Brian Eno and Joy Division, the band, collaborating with long-time producer and New York underground mainstay Mark Kramer, favored slow-paced compositions characterized by minimal instrumentation and an economy of language.^[6][5][7][8]

The band named the album after stopping for sandwiches in Hope Township, New Jersey.^[9]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[6]
Chicago Tribune	[10]
NME	7/10[11]
Q	[12]

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."^[10]

Legacy

Featuring music played at an "unprecedented pace in the then-flowering underground,"^[5] I Could Live in Hope helped to birth the genre known as slowcore, which encompassed acts from Bedhead to Codeine throughout the 1990s.^[7]

Pitchfork placed I Could Live in Hope at number 49 on its 1999 list of the best albums of the 1990s.^[13] 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.^[14] In 2004, the album was included in Les Inrockuptibles' "50 Years of Rock'n'Roll" list.^[15] In 2018, Pitchfork placed it at number 22 on its list of the 30 best dream pop albums.^[16]

Track listing

I Could Live in Hope track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocals	Length
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

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

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of I Could Live in Hope.^[17]

Low

• Alan Sparhawk – guitar, vocals
• Mimi Parker – percussion, vocals
• John Nichols – bass

Additional personnel

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