Cary Pratt’s Chihuahua, Enrique, is a loyal companion who listens attentively to new songs. And if he wants to keep his remaining eye, he’ll stay that way.

Prairie Cat’s debut full-length, It Began/Ended With Sparks, is an album that lives up to its title, with romantic fireworks flying on songs that primarily concern heartbreak and longing. For songwriter Cary Pratt, however, the album began with sparks of a more literal variety. They occurred in early 2008, when an apartment fire forced the multi-instrumentalist to move back to Vancouver after three months in Montreal.

“Things were just starting to go good there. It was hard to find work as an anglophone,” recalls Pratt between mouthfuls of chocolate cake at a Main Street coffee shop. “My savings and Visa and everything were racked. And finally I started working, and on the second day of work, I came home with my little briefcase and my little pair of shoes and my dress pants that I had spent my last bit of money on so that I could get the job, and I’m standing there like, ”˜Oh, crap, the building’s on fire.’ ”

With his apartment and most of his possessions destroyed, Pratt moved back to the West Coast, maxing out his credit card to pay for his ticket to Vancouver. Staying with friends and crashing on couches until he could get resettled, he devoted himself to recording his new album. With many of the songs already written during his stay in Montreal, he entered the studio with Derek DeFilippo, the same engineer with whom he’d recorded much of his 2007 debut, Attacks!.

“I knew I was going to come out with a second record, but I never ever thought it was going to have such a continuum throughout, that 90 percent of it was going to be structured around one main theme, just in relationships,” says Pratt of It Began/Ended With Sparks.

Judging by the 10 tracks that make up the album, there’s no doubt that he was preoccupied with failed romance. The bouncy piano pop of “Just Cuz” plays out like an updated take on the Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, with Pratt complaining, “Temporary lovers deserve longer summers.” This yearning transforms into vitriol on “Get Off”, a hiccupping rhythm and stuttering piano setting an uneasy backdrop for Pratt’s remonstrations of “I don’t know where you get off.”

Cynical though he may be, the songwriter insists that his lyrical pessimism isn’t intended to be dreary or depressing. “It’s not supposed to be cathartic or anything,” he observes. “As much as they’re not serious, they’re also serious, but they’re not.”

This contradictory nature is evident in the album’s many jokes and puns, which are hilarious and heart-breaking in equal measure. Pratt shows a flair for black comedy on the breakup ballad “Never Right”, as pattering congas and buzzy ’80s keyboards give way to a tongue-in-cheek chorus of “She treated me fairly/She treated me fairly badly.”

Perhaps the best mixture of happy and sad comes during the title track, a synth-bedazzled rocker on which the singer admits “She’s lying/I’m lying too” before launching into a climactic guitar bridge laden with high-hat-heavy dance beats. Pratt reveals that this song, unlike the rest of the album, was recorded with Zolas pianist Tom Dobrzanski, a producer who owns and operates Vertical Studios out of his home. During the session, the pair recruited Tom’s sister Fran for the song’s spoken-word breakdown, which plays out like an intimate conversation between parting lovers.

“We had the lights down, dimmed low,” Pratt remembers. “In the moment, for some reason I said, ”˜I love you.’ And then she goes, ”˜I love you too.’ Tom’s at the controls and I can see him like, ”˜What the fuck?’ We burst out laughing. It was really in-the-moment and really funny, but it was uncomfortable.”

With the album behind him and fraternal ire quelled, Pratt is now taking Prairie Cat on the road, having recruited six musicians to back him during his eight shows from Victoria to Saskatoon. Despite the fact that It Began/Ended With Sparks has been on the shelves for over three months, this will be the first time he has toured in support of the album.

“I always thought of it [touring] as kind of a fruitless labour,” he explains. “It’s a lot of work and money that I think, for myself, would go a lot further to make me happy in the studio.”

Given this attitude, it’s no surprise that his first priority on returning to Vancouver will be getting to work on his next set of recordings. If his latest album is any indication, this means more sugar-sweet piano pop and lovelorn exposés of past relationships. And how do Pratt’s ex-girlfriends feel about this tendency to dwell on romantic failure?

“I don’t know,” he muses. “They don’t talk to me.”

Prairie Cat performs at Little Mountain Gallery next Friday (March 26).