Imagine, if you will, floating slowly towards the bottom of the sea, absorbing the warmth of the sun's rays filtering around you from the world above. Your perceptions become altered in the fluid atmosphere, reflecting stark images of loneliness, wonder and peaceful introspection. Lose yourself in this daydream, and you'll begin to comprehend Low's wistful and delicate character. Produced by Shimmy-Disc guru Kramer, I Could Live In Hope finds this Duluth, MN, trio drawing from the same sense of lethargic beauty as bands like Slowdive, Codeine or Galaxie 500, while effortlessly shaping its own timeless presence. Though most groups of similar bent rely on sudden electric bursts or washes of feedback to accentuate their songs, Low allows each note to hang in space, to breathe and shimmer momentarily before the next tone emerges. Low's debut is a gorgeous exercise in minimalism, from the warm lull of John Nichols' bass and the tap of Mimi Parker's lone snare and cymbal, to the soft waver of Alan Sparhawk's guitar. With little more than an aching sigh, the voices of Parker and Sparhawk slowly stretch and pull at each songs' chorus, leaving the measured lap of sparse instrumentation to echo and float across the weightless expanse. Transport yourself with "Words," "Slide," "Lazy," the dark drift of "Rope" and "Lullaby," a 10-minute stretch of majestic radiance.

- Colin Helms: CMJ New Music Report Issue: 367 - Feb 14, 1994

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