Trygve Seim’s ECM debut instantly established his reputation, winning the German Record Critics Prize as Album of the Year (Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik). In the International Herald Tribune, Mike Zwerin observed that “Different Rivers is melancholy, lonely, hypnotizing music – harder to escape from than to listen to. Like a fireplace in an ice palace, you get hooked on it; it's almost physical. ... Seim's version of the ECM sound presents a wind-instrument chamber ensemble, a sort of slow-floating, pianissimo little-big band with occasional understated kicks. The shadow of Gil Evans hovers. The horn-blowers finesse their personal, breathy, non-symphonic textures from behind the beat.” Recorded 1998 and 1999.
