Nathan Christ's “Echotone” is not about the "Austin music scene." Rather, it’s about the relationship between Austin and music. This is not a typical rock doc with talking heads mixed with concert footage. “Echotone” works differently. It documents the music scene in Austin within the context of its gentrification, threatening the very thing that made it a desirable place to live in the first place. Besides rising rents,clubs face noise policies that kill off the concerts which are the lifeblood of SXSW.
“Echotone” is a kaleidoscope of life, showing balance of precision and spontaneity. Christ focuses on the lives of several artists living in Austin. The film starts with Black Joe Lewis, a great soul and blues musician by night and a fishmonger by day. We follow the soul revivalist as he goes about his day, talking about his music and his city. He is sly, funny and admits as little as possible. His spirited music rooted in the Deep South is developed into original compositions with funny lyrics and edgy interpretation.
Christ’s film also reflects on the trappings of fame. He takes us to see another Austin native, Bill Baird. Baird first became famous as a founding member of “Sound Team," the group signed to Capitol Records. But, in 2006, the band broke up and Baird had to reinvent himself and, finally, re-emerged with a new project called “Sunset”. In three years, his indie-pop band, praised as modern psychedelia at its finest, recorded five full-length albums. It takes a lot of effort to create an ephemeral world without re-fashioning the old sounds. “Sunset” is a testament to Bill’s seriousness and focus. In a film, we almost always see him alone in a quiet contemplative mood or working in his studio. We listen to his soft voice in a continuous monologue about the nature of art and music.
Cari Palazzolo from the band “Belaire” also translates her inner life into art. “Belaire” mixes Italian movies scores and Carnival music. The band just released their debut album called “EP” and received rave reviews. But like Black Joe Lewis, Cari has a day job, delivering blueprints to the same building developers that may run her out of town someday. Her cinematic portrait is flawless. The film never uses one thoughtless camera movement. “Echotone” lensed by Robert L. Garza consists of perfectly framed landscapes of the rising city, old neighborhoods and impressionistic compositions of concerts and studio work.
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