Major Leagues chronicle the Sour Coast with Leah Barron-Stevens' "Headaches"

Showcasing some of the finest acts to emerge from their homestead, it seems that everything's in motion on the infamous Sour Coast. But hold on a minute - where exactly is that?

"The Sour Coast is a beautiful, rundown and vacant stretch of beach somewhere on the coast of southern Devon," the label explains. "The Sour Coast Tourism Office will no doubt tell you that its a glorious callback to days gone by, with classic British attractions like Punch 'n' Judy and Fish 'n' Chips." Sounds good, right? "Major Leagues can tell you that's all trash," the label continue. "The lifetime of memories you'll make here can be boring as hell. But it has lead to the creation of some incredible music, so I guess there's that."

Much like the music, the label was founded out of boredom at the world around them, with Sour Coast Volume 1, Major Leagues are giving these acts a platform to be heard. Drawing together artists who are "making music because they want to, and they feel an urge, rather than posing behind microphones to get girls," the label is injecting their home scene with a thrilling sense of pride, declaring "I KNOW YOU THINK SOUTH DEVON IS DEAD, BUT IT WAS ONLY COMATOSE!"

Leah Barron-Stevens is one of six acts to feature on the compilation. With a chorus written when she was sixteen, "Headaches" potently captures the world-weariness that the label strives to shatter, and transforms it into a venture of soaring majesty.

"I specifically remember that it came about during a summer of constant rain, which could have contributed to some of the melancholy," Leah explains of the song. "The lyrics are about feeling incomplete, and waiting on someone to reciprocate something or satisfy you in some way."

"A lot of the images in the song probably seem quite mismatched," she adds. "It’s all in anticipation of a ‘coming-together’ which applies on lots of different levels as well as in a relationship. For better or worse, it’s still something I can sing about with conviction,which must be how the song has survived."

Listen to "Headaches" below, and find out more about life on the Sour Coast below.

What inspired you to start this label?

We kind of got fed up hearing some of our closest friends make such great music without anybody listening up - so we decided to put it out there ourselves. Life can get a little dull on the Sour Coast as an 18 or 19 year old taking their first summer off university in London, so this project has been a nice exciting ride which has probably made it a lot more enjoyable.

How'd you find the acts for this compilation?

A lot of the acts were good friends of ours from the off, so we're all pretty tight. That was very much the point of this compilation. Others, like meals and Daniel Lloyd, were initially friends of friends introduced to us via a Soundcloud link which made us realise we had to hunt them out and ask them to be involved because we liked their music so much. Of course they're now solid mates of ours and staples of our little 'scene'. Everyone on the tape is very deserving of their place.

How long has this release been in the making?

It's been a pipe dream for probably a few years but Major Leagues properly got going on July 3rd this year. If you go on our Facebook page, that's the day the label was 'born' which we both found really funny at the time but now less so. Since then we've both been massively busy trying to sort everything all out - it will be 2 months from start to finish near enough.

What was the process behind bringing it all together like?

The process of bringing it all together has been crazily exciting, and we've tried to do everything ourselves in-house - we had a small helping hand on the artwork but you'd be shocked by how many iterations it went through before we took it outside. We have had slightly cringeworthy moments in asking other DIY labels that we massively admire like Art is Hard and Beech Coma for advice, but we made it work. All the acts on the comp are just as excited as we are, with the tapes sat in Jake's room and the plans for a release party coming together. The Drift Record Store in Totnes have been excellent in their help - they're stocking it, have added it to the playlist for their festival Sea Change in a few weeks, and letting us party in store on launch day.

What would you say is the essence of the Sour Coast sound?
I'm not sure a particular Sour Coast sound exists, but there's a common drive behind every track on the tape. There isn't much to do on Sour Coast. The compilation is all about trying showing off the enormous variety of music being made by this group of friends, and being proud as hell of that. To take this tape and show it off to everyone, and shout as loud as possible.

What's next for Major Leagues?

We're looking forward to the release show party at The Drift on 3/9 so we're all gearing up for that, and the (hopefully) frequent trips to the post office once the tape is out. After this one is done, I guess we'll start searching out acts for the next one and begin it all over again. We've got distant dreams of taking the gang out to a big city up north (London. Everywhere is north from here) where we study during term time and putting on a proper show but I think we might have to sell a few cassettes before we can do that.