IT really shouldn’t come as a surprise that Kian Egan has decided to go country on his debut solo venture.

His former band Westlife were not adverse to raiding the popular American Country charts for their source material, and Egan’s style of country is the sophisticated radio-friendly narrative tracks as evidenced on a brace of Daughtry ballads, Waiting On Superman and the lead single Home.

Impeccably produced by Brian Rawling and performed by the absolute cream of session guns for hire, Home stands head and shoulders above many another album by a newly available former boy-band refugee.

Musically, Home is a very decent album. But one suspect that like Shane Filan before him, fans would prefer a hasty reunion.

In the meantime, if the music business doesn’t work out, Egan has carved out a pretty impressive television profile