Whenever their name comes up, it’s almost always preceded by the word ‘chic’. But French psych-rockers La Femme prefer to avoid falling into the stereotype.

Guitarist and co-founder Sacha Got tells us of the band's resilience: how they have managed to put out a record, film a full movie and schedule upcoming gigs amidst the pandemic. “We were supposed to release a record one year ago but because of the virus and everything we’ve had to wait to release it. It’s been a weird year…” The upheaval didn't stop La Femme from making the most out of the resources they had, though. “We did a lot of videoclips when we could still do videoclips,” he adds. “And we decided to work on a full movie, which is going to go with the next record, Paradigmes. We’re going to have all the video clips released and it’s going to be one hour and thirty minutes - so a full movie.”

Sacha tells us that the ‘chic’ status bestowed upon La Femme does not entirely represent their style. While it may be a flattering misconception, the guitarist emphasises that “sometimes we like to dress chic, for sure. But sometimes we like to dress garbage too, so I would not say it’s only that. Maybe there is this side of us because we took some pictures in Paris and we like to wear suits and stuff like that, but it’s [only] one of our sides. There are other sides to us.”

Describing La Femme as a Parisian band would not do justice to some of its integrants’ Biarritz roots either. Sacha seems keen to point out their origins have often been overlooked in what comes across as an attempt to make them fit into the French archetype. He explains: “We’re not 100% a Parisian band. Some of us are from Paris but some are not. Like, I’m not from there.”

La Femme has patently moved past conventions and embarked on a search for contradictions when it comes to their sound too, especially in their connection with lyrics. Sacha explains that they “try to mix deep lyrics and heavy subjects with pop and light music, and we like this contrast. Putting sad and heavy lyrics on a melody, like kind of nice and happy, makes a good contrast because I don’t like it when a song is too sugary.”

Having postponed their album release for a year because “our record label said ‘it’s not a good idea to put the record out now because of the virus,’” Sacha highlights that the project - which is now out - had been in the works for two or three years even before that. “The last record we put out was in 2016… We take a lot of time to finish a record because we are picky and perfectionist. We like to don’t rush [sic] and take our time to do something good. It’s the third record we’ve dropped in ten years - it’s not that much, you know. We wanted to drop [it] quick, but you know, it’s big stuff. Most of the songs were written two years ago but it works like this, you know.”

About their feature-length film, set to be released in September, Sacha revealed that it's going to have a comedic tone. “Basically, it’s going to look like a TV show from the '70s,” he concedes, adding that they drew inspiration from sci-fi comedy classics. “In France there are TV shows where everybody is drinking and smoking and going crazy - so this is going to be the mood. And I would say it’s like a mix between Monty Python, the Phantom of the Paradise, Rocky Horror Picture Show; but with a French mood, with berets and people drinking wine and being drunk. so it’s going to be a mix of all of this.”

Having already set dates for their European tour (with a London gig scheduled on 13 January), Sascha confesses the future remains highly unpredictable. “We don’t even know if we’re going to tour at the beginning of next year. We don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s very uncertain and not sure at all, but for the moment we are in the promotion of the record and we’re doing a TV show and everything.”

But with the UK already planning its return to normality and with live music making a comeback, La Femme could be taking over the stage at the O2 Forum Kentish Town in no time at all.