Tangents (2007)

Bellevue Rendezvous

1. Tolka Polka/ Hanter an Dro/ Welsh Fairy Dance/ French Mediaeval Tune
2. Lat Till Far/ Retour de Montegnac/ The Mongrel
3. Finnish Schottisches 1 & 2/ French Schottische
4. La Volta/ Farewell to Chernobyll/ Tongadale Reel
5. Stensele Polska/ Slangpolska/ Polska Hugo
6. Durdevka/ Zbogom Selo
7. Tribute To Joe Scurfield/ Despite The Cat/ Another Time Another Place

‘Now here's an interesting trio that's going to turn a few heads. Gavin Marwick has been around for quite a number of leading bands. Here he seems - like Aly Bain before him - to be transforming himself from fiddler into Scottish violinist. By that I mean that the emphasis of his playing has gradually changed to give more attention to expressive tone and emotion 
rather than fiddle pyrotechnics.

 Not that the Bellevues are playing a Scottish repertoire; far from it. We are told that most of the tunes have been brought back from the St.Chartier Festival by Ruth Morris. Her playing of the nyckelharpa brings a powerful middle to the band's sound and she and Gavin play together with a fine empathy, and wherever the origins of these pan-European tunes, they all 
take on something of a Caledonian feel in the hands of these two.

 The third contributor is Cameron Robson who is the ideal accompanist of bouzouki and guitar on this evidence - always lifting the music and never intruding.



Self-produced debut albums don't get much better than this.’ – fROOTS

‘I was very pleasantly surprised when I listened to Tangents by the Scottish group Bellevue Rendezvous and in fact have listened to this album 5 days in a row since receiving it. Part of the surprise was that it contained a number of traditional Swedish pieces I’ve played myself and had never heard anyone else perform before. The whole album has a gorgeous rolling feeling which reminds me of the playing of the well known Irish Fiddler, Martin Hayes - the pieces just seem move under their own energy without ever being too slow or too rushed - it’s like waves overlapping.
The instrumental lineup of Bellevue Rendezvous is also quite interesting with Fiddle (Gavin Marwick) backed up by Bouzouki & Guitar (Cameron Robson) and the Swedish keyed Violin, Nyckelharpa (Ruth Morris). The combination of these three instruments gives the band an incredibly lush sound which suits their repertoire really well and gives it a somewhat mediaeval sound. They play a variety of pieces from Europe such as Slangpolska and Låt Till Far from Sweden, Durdevka and Zbogom Selo from Serbia, a Breton Hanter An Dro as well as a few originals.  The mixture of pieces work together well and even Donal Lunny’s Tolka Polka which is normally performed quite fast blends in well with everything.
I can’t recommend this album highly enough to anyone who enjoys European music or for that matter mediaeval music and for those who’d like to get their feet wet with something a little different that’s still very accessible.’ -  WORLD MUSIC WORLD