"Deagh Dhèis Aodaich (A Good Suit of Clothes)" is released by the Highland Council Gaelic Song Fellow, 200 years to the month after the Duke of Sutherland first employed Patrick Sellar to "clear the Highlands" as a precursor to mass emigration from Scotland.

The album follows the Dingwall based singer's internationally acclaimed "Duan Nollaig (A Gaelic Christmas)", both of which were released by the Scottish music label Greentrax Recordings.

Whilst well-respected in the Gaelic community, Mackenzie was brought up in the Scots folk tradition in Moray and has developed a fresh, cutting edge non-traditional style of music that now boasts a global following from Nova Scotia to New Zealand and America to Australia.

After learning Gaelic as an adult, Mackenzie went on to win the An Comunn Gaidhealach Gold Medal at the Royal National Mod in Stornoway in 2005 and the BBC Scotland Traditional Music Personality of the Year in 2004. She has twice been nominated Gaelic Singer of the Year at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards.

Irvin Duguid, the album's producer, is a leading musical theatre producer, musician and film score composer who has played with Paolo Nutini, Fish, Marillion, Gun and Ray Wilson.

"On this album, myself and Irvin have sought to present Gaelic song in a totally new and fresh, almost classical style," Mackenzie stated.

"Homecoming Year is an opportunity to showcase the identities of Scots and their experiences to many different musical audiences including those who perhaps have a perception that Gaelic equals traditional, bagpipes and accordions.

"We have not interfered with the integrity of the material, rather enhanced it with beautiful arrangements and instrumentation, adding texture with the classical string quartet Mr McFall's Chamber and rhythmic diversity from across the musical spectrum.

"Irvin has made a point of not using any electronic instruments on the album, instead trying to restrict the arrangements to the instruments which the emigrants might have used themselves.

"We have incorporated the talents of some of Scotland's finest traditional musicians as well as world-class musicians such as world renowned jazz guitarist John Goldie."

The material on the album is equally diverse, she added.

"The songs on the album cover a variety of emotions, from homesickness to love lost to hope and expectation for a new life, to the bitter disappointment of the bard who realises too late that he is not as famous in Nova Scotia as he is in Scotland and that he is in danger of losing his Gaelic," she said.

Taking inspiration from across the centuries, "Deagh Dhèis Aodaich" includes the very first orally recorded Gaelic song, created in 1763 by a native of Kintail in North Carolina. The collection also features a track where Mackenzie sings alongside an archive recording of a Halifax native, who composed the song on a plane journey to Scotland, the home of his forefathers, at the age of 75, and recorded it on the Isle of Eriskay.

A special exclusive track, not on the album, is also being made available to download free throughout the summer from both Fiona Mackenzie's and the Greentrax websites. Written by poet and novelists Angus Peter Campbell, "An Saoghal Ur (The New World)" is performed in English, Scots and Gaelic.

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