Sugar Mouth is the second album from Flying Nun's internationally acclaimed David Kilgour. Its twelve songs are laden with the sweet melodies, unhurried ease and seeping pop brilliance that marked David's first solo release, 1992's Here Come The Cars.

That solo debut attracted major critical attention in New Zealand and around the world. In Pulse, it was called 'the most immediately catchy and impossible-to-ignore release of the year' and the album was a Top 10 Critics Choice for '92 in both the New York Times and music industry bible, Billboard. The NY Times said Here Come The Cars has 'all the elements of classic guitar pop: glistening melodies, tenacious hooks and a voice that instantly conveys sadness and ache.'

David established his musical reputation while still in his teens as guitarist in The Clean, the originators of the fabled Dunedin scene that launched the Flying Nun label in 1981. His great talent for writing catchy pop songs was displayed in "Tally Ho", The Clean's first record and only Flying Nun's second release. "Tally Ho" and the two Clean EPs which followed it all reached the Top 20, making The Clean an instant and unheralded success, and propelling the young Dunedin band to national stardom. The Clean split soon after, and David took his guitar and songs to two more Flying Nun bands, the Great Unwashed and Stephen, and spent his time away from music painting and travelling. In late 1991, he embarked on a solo career with the intention of breaking away from the ' full-on guitar mystic' tag attached to his music. David hooked up with the rhythm section from the Strangeloves in Wellington's Writhe studio and set about recording a solo album with a warmer sound than his previous band recordings. At the release of Here Come The Cars, he said 'I just try to capture a mood or feeling, and leave it at that. I'm a sucker for sweet little melody things. You hear them and forget about life for a few seconds.'

Most of Sugar Mouth was recorded in a farmhouse near the township of Waiuku, just south of Auckland. (NB: not all New Zealand albums are made in such rustic conditions!). Sugar Mouth builds on that warm sound and feel so familiar to fans of Here Come The Cars, adding complexity and polish which reflect David's continued maturity as a songwriter. It is an outstanding, unpretentious pop album with enough appeal to find an appreciative audience beyond the confines of any 'scene' -- Sugar Mouth is the recording that confirms David Kilgour's status as one of the leading contemporary songwriters from his part of the world.

The album opens with a quartet of strong pop songs. "No No No", the lead video track kicks things off, followed by "Fallaway", "1987" and the delicate "Filter". David's first musical love, the sound of 'sixties folk-rock songwriters, is recalled as the pace slows with the compelling, spacious arrangements of "Beached", "Nail In My Foot" and "Waiting Round On You". These songs are carried by David's voice, acoustic guitar and piano, unlike the track which follows -- "Crazy", a hypnotic electric guitar rave-up. The beautiful "Listen To The Rain" features a lead vocal by Jane Kemp, who sings backing vocals on several other album tracks. The album's natural flow through to a quieter mood sees Sugar Mouth drawing to a close with "Look At It", "Recollection" and the final acoustic number, "Never End".

Throughout the album, David shows he can be an enigmatic lyricist, peppering his songs with 'strange wheelbarrows', 'roadsigns' and 'enemy's coats', and using recurring temporal imagery like changing seasons and relationships. Yet the words seem to match his melodic intention -- the songs are written as brief moments of revelation rather than unfolding narratives. By "Never End" he gathers his bittersweet themes into a reflection on life stretching beyond the fading moments, fading colours and flickering TV screen, where "we'll go searching... swirling high." So lyrically and musically, Sugar Mouth does exist on a level where it is a classic songwriter's odyssey, moving through a series of connected moments to a satisfying and humble conclusion. David Kilgour doesn't write as if he has the answers and this Everyman element to his music is a great part of his talent and the album's wide appeal.

David began recording Sugar Mouth with a band including Noel Ward (the former Strangeloves bassist who plays alongside David on Here Come The Cars and in the Pop Art Toasters, the side project led by David and Martin Phillipps of the Chills) and drummer Brian Donnelly. After Brian left partway through the recording, his replacement was former Chills drummer, James Stephenson. Since the album was completed, James has joined David and Noel in the band full-time, performing as David Kilgour and the Best Minds (a reference that won't be missed by those who remember that he once wrote a classic Clean tune called "Beatnik"). This trio have toured New Zealand and in coming months they expect to head out into the wider world, where interest in Sugar Mouth is high -- the album having already been praised as 'blissful pop... marked by simple evocative lyrics as well as Kilgour's laidback approach to recording' on the front page of Billboard (June 4 issue).