Album Notes

The Sick-Leaves is the solo project of singer/songwriter/guitarist Eksteen Jacobsz.

Twice South African Music Award nominated artist The Sick-Leaves independently release highly anticipated third album Last Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy on 8th March 2010.

Renowned Grammy Award winning producer, Darryl Torr produced this album from The Sick-Leaves that was recorded in November 2009 at SABC’s M5 studio, Auckland Park South Africa.
The album follows from the critically acclaimed SAMA nominated first & second albums Tunnel Vision & Stone the Crow (2007 & 2009 respectively), with Stone the Crow also having been released independently. Bruce Dennill, editor of CitiVibe has said of the album: “The Sick-Leaves continue to build one of South Africa's most intriguing musical brands with shorter, sharper, more accessible songs - including the blistering "Coz You Like It" - on new album "Last Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy".

Last Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy consists of eleven original songs as composed by singer/songwriter/guitarist Eksteen Jacobsz, with all instrumentation except for drums, tracked by him.
The album features guitars, vocals, bass and drums.

These songs are punchy and catchy featuring epic guitar solos and new themes with a total album length being twenty minutes less than that of Tunnel Vision or Stone the Crow.
The album is guitar driven rock, yet its sound differs quite considerably from that of the first two albums due to the influence of producer, Darryl Torr, the experience gained since the release of Stone the Crow in 2008 and a new direction in song writing. The album has already been well received in the media following the media launch held on Wednesday 24th February in association with Jose Cuervo at Narina Trogon, Johannesburg. Photographer Sean Brand designed all the album artwork using infrared photographs taken in Namibia to fit with the concept of the album.

Recent accolades for The Sick-Leaves include a 2010 MK Award nomination for the animated music video ‘All These Foolish Things (I’ve said)’ and a (Live)5 performance on national radio station 5FM’s live performance show at the end of January.

The artist, Eksteen Jacobsz is excited for the release as saying: “The album signals a new direction for The Sick-Leaves & yet it still contains all The Sick-Leaves elements that were put in place by the first two albums. I can’t wait to play these songs live and take it to new ears all around the country”.

High profile performances of 2009 included: Friday night main stage performance at Oppikoppi: Smoorverlief, Rocking the Daisies, Synergy Live, Pinkie Fest, Vrede Fest III, St Stithians College Arts festival, MK’s Studio 1 as well as many club gigs around the country in Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Durban, Bloemfontein, Potchefstroom, Nelspruit and Polokwane. “All These Foolish Things (I’ve said)’ off Tunnel Vision was used as the soundtrack for the 2009 Rocking the Daisies tv & radio ad on 5FM, MK & Vuzu with the music video being on rotation on MTV Europe.