's press release as a series of "lucid sound sequences from a lunatic mind," the experimental downtempo psychedelic new age EP was analyzed by music journalist Jonny Coleman as the story of a character who is stranded in a rural, tribal land.

The River is a set of six original tracks by Silver with digital download versions of the record containing four remixes of songs from the EP by acts such as Jacques Renault, Coyote, and Games.

"[1] It was inspired by Fitzcarraldo (1982), a German adventure-drama film by Werner Herzog[2] that, in the words of writer Jonny Coleman, is about "academic (white) men who go out on culturally touristic crusades.

[3] He analyzes that The River follows a character who is stranded in a rural, tribal land, where "benevolent polyrhythms share space with civilized instruments like synths and drum machines.

"[2] The EP is an experimental downtempo electronic psychedelic new age record[4][5] that was categorized by William Rauscher of Resident Advisor as a "heavily soundtrack-esque exploration of kosmische atmosphere and ambient evocation.

[2][6][4] Coleman wrote that the first two songs serve as an introduction to the tribal land that the EP takes place in, as they "casually build towards something" and "noodle and meander without any vocals leading the charge.

[3] The ambient downtempo trip-hop song[4] was analogized by Finlayson as someone driving through the woods after a snowstorm, which is represented using what he labeled as "chilly synths and glimmering repeating noises"[6] that play over a set breakbeat-style drums and bass arpeggios.

[2] Finlayson compared its "cold feeling" to the works of Fever Ray,[6] while Rauscher found its vibe and guitar pick sounds similar to "Teardrop" by English group Massive Attack.

[4] The title track, categorized by Rauscher as a "Tim-Hecker style white-noise freak-out,"[4] includes synthesized panpipes[7] and sounds similar to those of a heavy amount of water harshly flowing.

"[6] Despite these synth lines being electronically produced, Finlayson noted their "strangely natural" feel, "like some sort of high pitch noise a thriving forest emits condensed into carefully executed tones.

[4] It is followed by a remix of "It Was Never Meant to Be This Way" by electronic music duo Games, which was described by reviewer Steve Shaw as a "lush affair" with "chopped DX7 pads and afro-new age staccato melodies".

"[14] In a more mixed review, Danny Wadeson of The Line of Best Fit dismissed The River as "an oddly composed EP [...] that flirts with great ideas and a lush sound that aren’t quite unlocked fully until they find themselves in other hands than those of Silver’s.