It's been played on radio stations in new Mexico, Colorado, Germany, New Foundland, and Norway, as well as England and Scotland, and has been listened to as far a field as the Falkland Islands, Yekaterinburg in Russia, Sao Paulo, Australia and Beijing.

Quite an achievement for the six Uist based members!

"We're really pleased with how people internationally have reacted to the debut," said frontman James MacLetchie.

"It's fascinating to know that through the power of the internet that Gaelic music can reach so many and that despite living in a peripheral location the music of the islands has a far flung audience, something that at times we may not grasp.

"There are many people out there who, like Scots for many generations, have moved to another country in order to get work. There is always a sense of being a foreigner, of not fitting in or indeed being accepted fully into their new community and this sense of alienations and isolation can make homesickness and memories of their motherland a sweet dream," he continued.

"This applies whether you are Scottish or Scandinavian and our music seems to have tapped into this market.

"The world really is not such a big place and it makes us very fortunate to know that our songs in Gaelic can have that effect on people. People today live such hectic lives and sometimes it takes unusual music or lyrics to make them pause for a moment, listen and reflect on their lives."

And indeed, listening to 'Beò an Dùil' is defiantly a 'time-out' moment, one which whisks listeners away from reality and lands them firmly upon the shores of the islands which have proved such inspiration to Bi Beò's music.

As one Californian fan succinctly summed up the debut in correspondence with the band: "Your music has an evocative quality, often capturing a mood, whether that be joyful, like 'Sollas Youth', the misery of abandonment depicted in 'The Seal Pup', or the haunting opening bars of 'Hougarry Reel'.

"The words are just as arousing, from the tender lyrics of 'Missing You', a song about being apart from the ones that you love, through to 'Lady Marcia' marking the loss and celebrating the life of a much missed friend.

"However, the songs are not only about feelings and emotions," they continued.

"Many provide a glorious series of mental photographs of life on the islands, from 'Sailing' where you can practically taste the salt air on your tongue, to 'Alive and Expecting' detailing the building excitement of a journey home, and listing all the beautiful things that are waiting there for the travellers on their return."

Comprising of James (vocals), Kevin de Las Cases (guitars), Paul MacLean (drums), Gordon Wells (Gaelic shakuhachi), Nick Ingledew (harmonica) and Jarlath Fenton (cittern), Bi Beò have steadily been making a name for themselves as one of the most exciting new band's in the Gaelic music scene over the least year; and 'Beò an Dùil' is the first album of its kind in over 20 years to come from the Uists, most importantly featuring ten brand newly written Gaelic songs.

As James and the band commented: "It was important to use to produce an album of modern contemporary music, which tried to encompass the feelings, atmosphere, sounds and silence of the place.

"There is so much great traditional music here that to try and replicate it would not have enabled us to make an inroad to the music scene and as a result we felt there was scope to develop a new and unique sound – hence the recording of 'Beò an Dùil'.

"The continued writing of new Gaelic songs is vital to the band, along with new tunes and by producing our own material we believe we will always have an authentic and original sound."

Recorded by band member Kevin (who previously spent more than 20 years in London working as a sound engineer) at the Hougarry Studios of Media Hebrides – and finally completed at 3am on January 29, James' birthday – one of the pleasing aspects of 'Beò an Dùil' is the clarity and fresh appeal of each individual track, the very essence of the band's music captured perfectly.

And this was an aspect which remained in the forefront of band members' minds throughout the creation of the album, as James expressed: "One of the most important things for us with the album was that we kept the soul of our work and that we kept an element of rawness in what we had done.

"We felt this was important to us as we wanted to produce a sound which was similar to what we played and was not too tweaked and polished."

Yet, it is not just the musicality of this debut which casts such a magical and inspiring net over listeners.

The presentation of the album itself, with lyrics in both Gaelic and English translations, notes on each songs essence and inspiration and beautiful photographs creating a superbly designed accompanying booklet, 'Beò an Dùil' is certainly well on its way to being a much welcomed collectors item.

James expanded: "The design of the album sleeve was another way for the band to express the emotive beauty of the Uists and we tried to select relative images for each song that had a meaning.

"We wanted the album sleeve itself to be something that people would hold and look at and enjoy and almost have a piece of Uist in their hands and I think we achieved that."

He continued, revealing the inspiration and influence which the band's island setting has played upon their music: "The album 'Beò an Dùil' is reflective of the islands in that it inspired the writing and the music and through that inspiration the songs became alive.

"Without the islands and the experiences of living here we would not have been able to produce this work."

Although the debut is now safely under their belts, Bi Beò is certainly not a band to rest on their laurels, and are pushing themselves to develop and expand, as James added: "Like all bands we strive to improve and through the album we are able to identify where we need to improve.

"By having our own sound on CD we can listen objectively and develop new material as required.

"We have just completed writing all the new songs for out next album which we hope to begin recording over the summer. This album will contain many up-tempo rock songs along with a few surprises for this listener and we have already tried a few of the songs at our gigs in Ireland and got a great reception for them."

The Ireland gig mentioned by James was the band's appearance at the Pan Celtic festival in Donegal earlier this year. And Bi Beò look set to be kept busy throughout 2008 with performances booked in Iceland in July as part of an Irish Festival, as well as at the Barra Festival on July 25 and at the Grimsay Boat Ceilidh on May 30.

They're also 'slowly adding other dates for Lewis and Harris over the summer months' and listeners should keep an eye out on the Bi Beò myspace site (www.myspace.com/bhibeo) for more details.

And debut album, 'Beò an Dùil' is currently available at a number of venues throughout the Western Isles, including all Tourist Information Centres and Arts Centres, as well as selected retail outlets.

As James and the band concluded: "It's been an incredible few months for the band as it has surpassed even our wildest dreams and Bi Beò is looking forward to some exciting times over the next year."