I Could Live in Hope

Low sent a home demo to four labels in 1993. Pitchfork reports that Dischord replied that the tape was beautiful but that it only worked with D.C. bands, while the copy sent to the producer Kramer, care of his imprint Shimmy-Disc, changed everything. Kramer found the band through a local radio station by following the Duluth postmark, and Parker borrowed a couple of hundred dollars for the trip to his studio in New Jersey. Kramer played rough mixes to Elizabeth Brooks, the head of A&R at Vernon Yard, a Virgin imprint, and the album came out in February 1994.

The band named it after stopping for sandwiches in Hope Township, New Jersey. Every title is a single word, and Parker sings lead for the first time on Slide. It was John Nichols's only album with the band, and Pitchfork says he left after disagreements over the touring schedule. The Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot wrote of its heavy-lidded drama, and Pitchfork later placed it at 49 on its list of the best albums of the 1990s. Pitchfork's own review scored it 9.3. The closing Sunshine is a version of the standard You Are My Sunshine.