Jacob Metcalf will be the first person to say he's not much of a jokester; he doesn't take even the smallest things lightly. But all one need do is listen to his recently released album to notice.
Metcalf's debut solo effort, Fjord, which came out Jan. 29, is equal parts introspective, contemplative and metaphoric. It's a beautiful collection of songs that obviously bears the weight of the Dallas-based musician's views about the world and what makes it turn. Consider that it took Metcalf 10 years to write, record and produce Fjord, and you get an idea about just how deeply he picks things apart.
Perhaps no song better articulates this struggle than "Pocket Full of Hesitation," a tortured tune dressed in delicate melodies that conjures images of sunny European countrysides more than the anxiety-prone fork in the road it's about.
A wanderlust from the town of Mabelvale, Ark., Metcalf seems invested in his surroundings, almost to a fault. He's traveled the world and pursued an array of degrees at universities nationwide (though never quite crossed the finish line), all in hopes of squeezing the most out of life. Even settling in Dallas -- "the big city" as he fondly calls it -- 12 years ago wasn't part of a permanent plan.
“When you make any decision, you loose a lot of different potential routes you could have gone,” the singer and multi-instrumentalist says. “That’s kind of an agonizing thing for someone like me, as an optimist and idealist.”
"'Pocket Full of Hesitation' is about feeling like you missed something beautiful," he adds.
The song's music video, which you can see on GuideLive for the first time today, is a clear representation of this attitude. Filmed in the Turner House in Oak Cliff, Metcalf stands in the camera's lone spotlight, woefully strumming his guitar and crooning to get his point across. As the camera pans, viewers see several women in the elegant, Victorian sitting room immersed in their cellphones dismissively singing background harmonies.
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The dichotomy is not lost on Metcalf.
“I thought it was like this hilarious comedy-tragedy thing … and maybe heartbreaking,” he says. Because of technology, “the gulf between us feels like it’s increasing, and that pains me.”
Jacob Metcalf plays the Turner House, the exact place where the "Pocket Full of Hesitation" video was filmed, on Thursday, April 14. A member of local projects the Dallas Family Band and Fox and the Bird, Metcalf incorporates worldly sounds including Chinese harp and kalimba (African thumb piano), alongside violin, trumpet and a World War II-era pump organ, and features anywhere from six to 20 musicians on any given night.
What better opportunity to put down the phone and witness something beautiful?
