  The mass of the $1^{-+}$ exotic meson, created with hybrid interpolating
fields, is explored at light quark masses approaching 25 MeV ($m_\pi / m_\rho
\simeq 1/3$). Access to such light quark masses is facilitated by the use of
the Fat-Link Irrelevant Clover (FLIC) fermion action. Additionally, we make use
of large ($20^3 \times 40$) lattices to obtain good control of statistical and
finite volume errors. Our results indicate that the $1^{-+}$ exotic exhibits
significant curvature close the chiral limit, indicating previous linear
extrapolations, far from the chiral regime, have overestimated the mass of the
$1^{-+}$. We find for the first time in lattice studies a $1^{-+}$ mass in
agreement with the $\pi_1 (1600)$ candidate. We also find a strangeness $\pm$1
$J^P = 1^-$ state with a mass close to 2 GeV.
