''I Could Live in Hope'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band Low. It was released on December 2, 1994, on

Vernon Yard Recordings Vernon Yard Recordings was an independent label owned by Virgin Records. Vernon Yard is a small mews off the Portobello Road in Notting Hill. Although Virgin owned a controlling interest in the label, they let Vernon Yard operate as a traditio ...

Background and composition

A reaction to the abrasiveness of

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

in the early 1990s, when

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

had reigning popularity, Low "eschewed conventional songwriting in favour of mood and movement." Influenced by

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

and

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...

, the band, working with long-time producer and New York

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

mainstay

Mark Kramer Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fin ...

, favored slow-paced compositions, a minimum of instrumentation and an economy of language.

Reception

''I Could Live in Hope'' received generally positive reviews from contemporary

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. Writing for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'',

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...

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."

Legacy

Featuring an "unprecedent pace in the then-flowering underground," ''I Could Live in Hope'' helped to birth the genre known as

slowcore Slowcore is a subgenre of alternative rock and indie rock. The music of slowcore artists is generally characterized by bleak lyrics, downbeat melodies, slower tempos and minimalist arrangements. Slowcore is often used interchangeably with the ...

, which encompassed acts from

Bedhead BedHead is a comedy web series created by Jon Dalgaard, Claire Phillips, Tom Keele, Reece A. Jones & Benjamin Mathews. Filmed in Sydney, Australia, the series allows the audience to hear the thoughts of two old friends, Paul and Sarah, who end up ...

to Codeine throughout the 1990s. ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' placed ''I Could Live in Hope'' at number 49 on its 1999 list of the best albums of the 1990s. 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''. In 2004, the album was included in ''

Les Inrockuptibles ''Les Inrockuptibles'' () is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly magazine in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. Now it is a monthly again, since 2021. In the beginning, rock and roll, rock music was the magazine's primary focus, though ...

'' "50 Years of Rock'n'Roll" list. In 2018, ''Pitchfork'' placed it at number 22 on its list of the 30 best

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such as ...

albums.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''I Could Live in Hope''. ;Low *

Alan Sparhawk Alan may refer to: People * Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' ...

– guitar, vocals *

Mimi Parker Low is an American indie rock band from Duluth, Minnesota, formed in 1993 by Alan Sparhawk (guitar and vocals) and Mimi Parker (drums and vocals). The band was a trio from 1993 to 2020, having featured four different bassists. Parker was a membe ...

– percussion, vocals *John Nichols – bass ;Additional personnel *

– production *Steve Watson – assistant production *Low – artwork *Gerree Small – inner sleeve photography

References

Low (band) albums 1994 debut albums Albums produced by Kramer (musician) {{1990s-indie-rock-album-stub