The River is an extended play written and produced from 2009 to 2010 by Canadian electronic musician Michael Silver, known by his stage name as CFCF. It was inspired by Werner Herzog's 1982 film Fitzcarraldo. Described by RVNG Intl.'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. The River was released by label RVNG Intl. on October 12, 2010 to generally positive reviews from critics, some reviewers calling its more modern-sounding cuts to be the best of the entire record. Composition and concept The River was written and produced from the fall of 2009 to the winter of 2010 by Michael Silver at his home and "on trains." It was inspired by Fitzcarraldo (1982), a German adventure-drama film by Werner Herzog that, in the words of writer Jonny Coleman, is about "academic (white) men who go out on culturally touristic crusades." Coleman highlighted that these "academic (white) men" formed the presence of Imperialism in the world due to their crusades. 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." The vinyl cover of The River, designed by Kevin O’Neill, is a map of what led the title character of Herzog's film to achieve "madness and freedom." The press release by RVNG Intl. summarized The River as a series of "lucid sound sequences from a lunatic mind." The EP is an experimental downtempo electronic psychedelic new age record that was categorized by William Rauscher of Resident Advisor as a "heavily soundtrack-esque exploration of kosmische atmosphere and ambient evocation." It mostly consists of textures that sound like they were made with acoustic instruments. Ray Finlayson of Beats per Minute described the sound of The River as a "beautiful landscape." Songs The River begins with “Before and After Light," a song based around a looping snippet of finger-picking. The song also consists of unnoticeable drums and ghost-like, Brian Eno-style synthesizers. The track is followed by