State Radio brought its brand of socially aware and politically active songs to the Austin Ventures stage during the Austin City Limits music festival Sunday. Before their evening performance, the trio stopped by the press area to discuss their new record and get their human rights message out to those who haven’t heard it before.

The 6-year-old band was happy about being in Austin and happy about being at an open-air festival venue.

“We love Austin,” said lead singer and songwriter Chad Stokes. “And this festival has a good collection of bands. We like festivals; we do well at them. Audiences here are pretty liberal. The exposure is great and, musically, playing here opens the door to other things.

State Radio just released a new record, “Let It Go,” produced by Dom Monks in 1970s live analog fashion. With socially conscious songs about Armenian genocide and a reggae tune about human rights with emphasis on women living in Sudanese refugee camps, Stokes said it is the band’s best album to date.

“It’s more optimistic than our previous album,” he said.

When asked what led to the band’s rosier outlook, he replied, “George Bush isn’t president any more.”

The dynamic trio is heading out on a West Coast tour to promote the new record and will continue working on projects with their social offshoot organization, Calling All Crows. Stokes said it is important for the group to take breathers between projects and albums to keep fresh and creative.

“It can get tricky balancing music and social reform,” he said. “We need to make sure we have enough practice time and enough free time to go off creatively into left field.”