“Save the World,” the new single from Jason Isbell and his backing band, the 400 Unit, is laudably blunt in addressing the scourge of gun violence in the United States. Even as it’s clear that the lyrics are directly inspired by the murders of children and teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas just about a year ago (“And when you said the cops just let um’ die/ I heard the shaking in your voice”), Isbell’s skill as a songwriter is that he moves beyond flat protest to a evocative expression of what it’s like to live in this misguided nation right now, where the most basic feelings of safety have been eroded away by political leadership that has decided the sanctity of sickening gun worship means it’s perfectly fine for the general citizenry to be at constant risk. Isbell sings, “Alone shopping at the grocery store/ My heart jumping in my chest/ I look around to find the exit door/ Which way out of here’s the best,” and he captures the constancy of imposed anxiety in the most mundane of public spaces. With these feelings, Isbell also makes room for flickers of rage and hope, so the whole maelstrom of reactions that any thinking, caring person has when surveying the bullet-riddled mess of the current moment.

Weathervanes, the new album from Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, is scheduled for release later this month.