There's new music from the Cut Throat Finches, a young rock band from Fort Worth. Called Polite Conversations, it's a new album released on Hand Drawn Records, an indie label based in Addison.

According to a release, the album focuses on the current divisiveness of public discourse. Musically, it boasts soulful powerhouse vocals, western stylings, and Brit-pop influences.

Polite Conversations is their second album, following Reality, their 2016 debut, also released by Hand Drawn.

Cut Throat Finches was founded in 2015 by singer-songwriter Sean Russell, a proud resident of the Fort Worth music scene, with a group of lauded players that includes Taylor Tatsch on guitar, Robert Paine on bass, Eric Webb on keys, and Draya Ruse on drums.

The band draws good crowds in its live performances at venues such as Main at Southside in Fort Worth and Granada Theater in Dallas. FortWorth.com included the band on its 2017 list of "artists on the rise."

Russell, a military veteran who served in the Army, says that Polite Conversations was written over the 2016 Presidential campaign, and politics fueled its subject matter.

"Sometimes literal hours would be lost where Taylor Tatsch and I would be reeling from the shock of what we were not only seeing from our panel of presidential candidates, but from the conversations around the politics," Russell says. "I refuse to believe that my friends who gave their lives did so for this broken, paranoid state. It would be a disgrace to believe that the country we have become is the best we can do and not to expect more."

Politically driven songs include "New Age," which explores the ignorance, fear and stubbornness of the current discourse. "War Cry" is a song to encourage those who protest, or conversely fear standing up for themselves in life in general. "Head in the Clouds" addresses the #metoo movement, with vocal phrasing/melodies reminiscent of George Harrison.

But there are also songs about love, infatuation, and relationships.

"Everyone has learned to scream, demand to be heard, and yet no one is listening to one another," Russell says. "The album does not propose solutions. It is snarky, witty, and meant for listeners. The politics of the day, and the behavior witnessed around it all, is simply the emotional landscape this album is written on."