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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.

I Could Live in Hope
Studio album by
Low
ReleasedFebruary 18, 1994 (1994-02-18)
RecordedAutumn 1993
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 edit

 
"Lullaby"
A 29 second excerpt from "Lullaby". This song became one of Low's most famous tracks. The song, alongside the rest of I Could Live in Hope, helped pioneer the genre slowcore, which Pitchfork described as "stretch[ing] a simple melody into a 10-minute meditation that gently pulls [the listener] out of linear time".[2]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

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]

Reception edit

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [5]
Chicago Tribune    [8]
NME7/10[9]
Q     [10]

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]

Legacy edit

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]

Track listing edit

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 edit

Credits adapted from the liner notes of I Could Live in Hope.[15]

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

References edit

  1. ^ Low Live at KJHK-FM on 1994-05-02, Interview (part 2), Archive.org. Accessed March 15, 2020.
  2. ^ Swensson, Andrea (November 7, 2022). "Remembering Low's Mimi Parker With 6 Essential Tracks". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  3. ^ Buckley, Peter (October 30, 2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. p. 615. ISBN 978-1843531050.
  4. ^ a b c Earles, Andrew (October 9, 2014). Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996. Voyageur Press. pp. 177–178. ISBN 978-0760346488.
  5. ^ a b Taylor, Ken. "I Could Live in Hope – Low". AllMusic. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
  6. ^ a b Everhart, John (June 5, 2013). "Low Albums From Worst To Best". Stereogum. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ a b Kot, Greg (February 24, 1994). "Low: I Could Live in Hope (Vernon Yard)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  9. ^ "Low: I Could Live in Hope". NME. September 3, 1994. p. 52.
  10. ^ "Low: I Could Live in Hope". Q. No. 96. September 1994. p. 102.
  11. ^ "Top 100 Albums of the '90s". Pitchfork. p. 6. Archived from the original on February 25, 2003. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ 50 ans de rock. 01 : Hors-série Les Inrocks 2, Les années 80–90 (in French). Paris: Les Inrockuptibles. 2004. OCLC 419731573.
  14. ^ "The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums". Pitchfork. April 16, 2018. p. 1. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  15. ^ Low (1994). I Could Live in Hope (Media notes). Vernon Yard Recordings.


 

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