"At the River" is a song by British duo Groove Armada. It was released as a single in 1997 on 7-inch vinyl, limited to 500 copies. The song appeared on the duo's debut album '' Northern Star'' and again on their second album, '' Vertigo'', released in April 1999.

Production and content

The song was written and produced whilst the duo were staying in a cottage in

Ambleside Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, Cumbria, Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern ...

in the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

, writing material for their first album. A sample of

Patti Page Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), known professionally as Patti Page, was an American singer and actress. Primarily known for pop and country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and best-selling female ar ...

's " Old Cape Cod" forms the basis of the song: the lines "If you're fond of sand dunes and salty air/Quaint little villages here and there", sung in Page's multi-tracked close-harmony, are repeated throughout the song, with the addition of synthesizer bass and slowed-down drum programming. The band found "Old Cape Cod" when they bought a 1950s compilation album from a bargain bin in a shop in Ambleside for 50p. The sampler they were using could only record ten seconds of audio at a time; Tom Findlay suggested that the use of only one section of the song's lyric left the track open to interpretation, "giving it a slightly eerie, melancholy quality". A blues-style trombone solo inspired by the spiritual song "

At the River "At the River" is a song by British duo Groove Armada. It was released as a single in 1997 on 7-inch vinyl, limited to 500 copies. The song appeared on the duo's debut album '' Northern Star'' and again on their second album, ''Vertigo'', relea ...

" was performed by Andy Cato. Cato had taken his trombone to the Lake District because he wanted to practice before an upcoming jazz concert: when he wanted to record the trombone melody, he had to improvise a microphone by swapping around the wires in a speaker from the cottage's ''

Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scottish people, Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed i ...

'' hi-fi as the duo did not have a microphone with them and were staying in a remote location. Cato credited this as giving the recording "a real vintage character".

Release

"At the River" was originally released as a single on 7-inch vinyl in 1997 in a limited pressing of 500 copies, and appeared on the duo's debut album '' Northern Star'' as well as its follow-up, '' Vertigo'', in 1999. Rob da Bank made it his single of the week in '' DJ Mag'': he subsequently handed a copy to Zoe Ball, who started playing it on '' The Radio 1 Breakfast Show''. Although the

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sever ...

committee initially believed the song was too slow for radio, support from radio producers and listeners meant that it forced its way into rotation. On 26 July 1999, the single was re-released on 12-inch and CD. This re-release peaked at number 19 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It was used in adverts for

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

Food in 2006, and in the films '' About Time'' and ''The Low Down''.

Track listing

All songs were written by

Andy Cato Andrew Derek Cocup Sr. (born 7 June 1973), known professionally as Andy Cato, is an English musician, record producer and DJ who is currently one half of the electronic music band Groove Armada, the other half being Tom Findlay. He was also inv ...

, Tom Findlay, Allan Jeffrey, Claire Rothrock, and Milton Yakus, except where noted. 7-inch vinyl 12-inch vinyl CD

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1997 songs 1997 debut singles 1999 singles Groove Armada songs Songs written by Andy Cato Songs written by Milton Yakus Downtempo songs Songs about beaches Barnstable County, Massachusetts Cape Cod and the Islands