"At the River" is a song by British duo

Groove Armada Groove Armada are an English electronic music duo, composed of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay. They achieved chart success with their singles " At the River", " I See You Baby" and " Superstylin'". The duo have released nine studio albums, four of ...

. 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 Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

'', 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 in the civil parish of Lakes and the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Westmorland and located in the Lake District National Park, the town sits at the ...

in the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

, writing material for their first album. A sample of

Patti Page Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), better known by her stage name Patti Page, was an American singer. Primarily known for Pop music, pop and Country music, country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and b ...

's "

Old Cape Cod "Old Cape Cod" is a song written by Claire Rothrock, Milton Yakus and Allan Jeffrey that was published in 1957. The single, as recorded by Patti Page, became a gold record, having sold more than a million copies. Hailed by Cape Cod natives as the ...

" 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" 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 Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingd ...

'' 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 music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standal ...

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, ''

'', in 1999.

Rob da Bank Robert John Gorham (born 24 June 1973 in Portsmouth, Hampshire), known by the pseudonym Rob da Bank, is an English DJ and co-founder of music festivals Bestival, originally on the Isle of Wight and now moved to Lulworth, Dorset and Camp Bes ...

made it his single of the week in ''

DJ Mag ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lati ...

'': he subsequently handed a copy to

Zoe Ball Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British broadcaster and presenter. She was the first female host of the Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows for the BBC, and in 2024 was confirmed as the second-highest paid BBC presenter after G ...

, who started playing it on ''

The Radio 1 Breakfast Show ''Radio 1 Breakfast'', also known as ''The Radio 1 Breakfast Show'', is a radio show that is broadcast across the UK on BBC Radio 1. It is hosted by Greg James since 20 August 2018 as the show's 16th presenter. The show ran six days a week u ...

''. 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 Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

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 that can be played once or in a loop. ...

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. It was used in adverts for

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

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 (born 11 December 1972), known professionally as Andy Cato, is an English musician, record producer, DJ, and farmer who is currently one half of the electronic music band Groove Armada, the other half being Tom Findlay. He wa ...

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

Charts

Peaked 19 in Uk

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 Chill-out music songs