The song was written and produced whilst the duo were staying in a cottage in Ambleside in the Lake District, writing material for their first album.

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".

[2] "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.

[4][5] All songs were written by Andy Cato, Tom Findlay, Allan Jeffrey, Claire Rothrock, and Milton Yakus, except where noted.