Pumarosa on their debut album The Witch: 'I wanted to have these female protagonists in the lyrics'

Space is important to Pumarosa.

Their performance at Oval Space in Hackney, London, proved that – frontwoman Isabel Munoz-Newsome’s high, arresting vocals are full of flair (thank her background in theatre for that) – adding to the slightly tense atmosphere created by deep blue, red and purple lighting and the instrumentation that builds slowly until it reaches a crashing, epic climax.

“I feel really sensitive to it,” Munoz-Newsome says. “Just knowing that certain places wouldn’t be good. We’re trying to work out where to do the next gig.”

“In America they seem to respect their culture of live music a bit more,” guitarist Neville James says. “We were in Radio City in America, that’s a legendary place.”

“But you probably couldn’t go as wild there,” Munoz-Newsome suggets. “I think that’s been taken out of venues. We went to this backstage bar at Radio City and you can imagine all hell breaking loose. They definitely wouldn't let you do that now.”

They’ve been looking forward to the release of their debut record The Witch for months now: "We've been waiting for them to print the vinyls, which takes ages."

Munoz-Newsome designed the cover art herself, which sees a white face painted over a red background, and there's more artwork inside the sleeve.

"I suppose it's some kind of internal landscape," she says. "It's to do with the guys, with friends, it's to do with everything. We had this party and one of the things on the wall was a sexless face."

"We were saying it's something that could be ancient but at the same time contemporary, which we liked," James reminds her.

At their Oval Space gig Munoz-Newsome dedicated their song “Lion's Den” to Theresa May, which somehow seemed like an unusual thing to hear at a gig but is becoming more and more common, as artists react to political events unfolding around the world.

"It feels so overwhelming at the moment, what’s happening," she says. "Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it just makes me feel f***ing sad. What can we do? It was in our heads so much that I wanted to say something. And that song is a protest almost against that situation, which has been completely engineered, and here we are."

"I feel all music is political to some extent," James says. "Even if you’re just providing people with some way to release their anxieties and think about something completely different for a while. You're doing something political there."

"If you don’t directly reference politics in your music, that’s not a cross against you, though," Munoz-Newsome adds. "Do whatever you need to do. People talk about whatever is most relevant to them."

Of course, they've noticed the disappointing number of female names on festival line-ups this year.

"It's amazing!" she says, exasperated. "Even some quite ‘right-on’ venues, you see flyers they post and portraits of the artists performing there, and there are about 50 men and six women. And you're like, what?"

The Witch makes for a refreshing listen, particularly due to how Munoz-Newsome addresses issues of gender and sexuality in her lyrics that don't conform to the tropes of 'good girl/bad girl' that are still peddled by so many rock and pop artists.

“I think it happens in everything. In film, TV... it’s so frustrating,” she says. “You hardly ever see a character that you want to associate yourself with, as a woman, so you usually start associating yourself with the male protagonist, because they’re more interesting.

“So I wanted to have these female protagonists in the lyrics. That’s why it’s so amazing when you occasionally hear it. ‘There she is! That actual woman.’ It’s a rare thing. I think we’re totally conditioned to be and think in certain ways. But then the industries are totally dominated by men.”

“I think it takes a lot of confidence to not be affected creatively by the patriarchy,” James suggests. “Because you know that for so long it's been an output that gets rewarded, and you sort of internalise that to fit the paradigm of what is acceptable. It takes being really grounded and knowing what you're about to break away from that, which is why I really like Isabel's lyrics.”

“But then sometimes I would get really frustrated wanting to know why more women haven't pushed through,” she says. “We definitely need more female names on the shelves.”

Pumarosa's debut album The Witch is out now. They play Electric Brixton in London on 12 June