Album Review: Mik Pyro, Exit Pyro

Exit Pyro, the debut solo album from former Republic Of Loose frontman, Mik Pyro, is not what one might expect. Gone is the strutting funk and the soulful R&B that characterised the Loose’s rambunctious career. Instead, Pyro describes his debut solo adventure as “kinda rain-soaked country ‘n’ Irish music”, his tongue lodged firmly in his cheek.

Certainly there’s a countrified twang to ‘My Mother & Father’, ‘Count On Me’ and the acerbic ‘City Of Ghouls’, but it’s more of the Father John Misty variety than anything Big Tom would empathise with. ‘Chill Or Die’ could have come from the backstreets of Nashville, as Pyro addresses his relationships with other people, alcohol and politics – the sound of him referring to Sinn Féin in a faux-US twang is among the weirder things I’ve laid ears on this year.

What’s surprising is how comfortable Pyro sounds, like he hails from South Carolina rather than South Dublin. Then again, this musical chameleon has always been happy to meld styles from across the Atlantic into his musical melting-pot.

Elsewhere, Pyro is still mixing styles with wilful disregard for convention, from the marching trad-style intro through the strident ‘Nothing More To Do With The Man’ – a brilliant duet with May Kay – to the yearning electro-country/blues epic of the almost eight-minute ‘Considering’. He hasn’t lost his wicked sense of humour either, as evidenced by ‘Automatic Facts’, a hilarious deep-dive into ‘fake news’.

Its 62-minute-plus running time may test attention spans, but that’s just a lot more Mik for your money. So no Loose, but Pyro still has plenty of juice.

8/10