Hermanos Gutiérrez: Cosmic Energy
Photo: Jim Herrington
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“We never had the intention to perform or be a band in the beginning. It was purely about connecting with each other,” Alejandro Gutiérrez says of the period in 2015 when he and his older brother—fellow guitarist Estevan—began creating original music together, which led them to forge an official tandem as Hermanos Gutiérrez. “I moved to a different city, and we didn’t feel close, so we were hanging out and one thing that came from spending time together was playing music with each other. We had this song, our first track ever, ‘El Mar,’ and my roommate came into the room and was like, ‘Oh, wow, who’s that band?’ We said, ‘No, that’s us.’ We were not a band at that time, but we thought maybe we should record because we were huge fans of vinyl.”
“Zürich has always been the place where we could play in a small bar or a little festival, and it was very organic,” Alejandro says of their early gigs as a duo in the country where they were born to an Ecuadorian mother and a Swiss father. “We never wanted to be a band. It was never like we wanted to go travel around and play music in front of people. So it’s still a surprise where we are in 2024. We’re so grateful.”
Estevan, who is Alejandro’s senior by eight years, remembers, “At the beginning, we played at places where people were not aware that we were playing. We were background music, but we played because we wanted to play. It also seemed like we’d have one person always come up to us after a concert and say, ‘I was never touched by music like your music.’ So we were like, ‘OK, it seems like someone was feeling it.’ That helped us keep going with what we were doing, but it was also because we love to do it together.”
“I like to perform,” he says, “but sometimes we forget about being onstage, which is a beautiful moment. We just kind of space out and then, all of a sudden, we’re back and we’re like, ‘Oh, we just played something so beautiful and we connected through the music.’ That’s always a nice feeling. Sometimes I don’t miss the feeling of being onstage at all, but whenever we go back and turn on the amps, it’s always a safe space and a good feeling.”
Estevan’s allusion to a dream state is an apt point of reference for their all-instrumental repertoire, which can be sublime and ethereal at times, while sprightly and exuberant at others.
Hermanos Gutiérrez self-released four albums between 2017 and 2020. Alejandro suggests that the last of these, Hijos del Sol, “was the most spiritual record in the way that we were able to capture the essence of the desert and bring it to the stage. Somehow we connected with that beautiful landscape and it became a game changer in our discography.”
This characterization also proved true because Hijos del Sol caught the attention of The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who reached out about producing their next album in Nashville for his Easy Eye Sound imprint.
“He’s such an artist,” Alejandro proclaims, “which is what I feel is so inspiring about him. Whenever we’re listening to vinyl while we are recording, it’s funny to see his reaction when he hears a tone or a specific sound that surprises him—something weird on an organ or a little guitar riff that makes him smile. It was cool to see what he pays attention to. He’s definitely an inspiration for sound digging and exploring what you can create with different effect pedals.”
Hermanos Gutiérrez’s first record with Auerbach was 2022’s El Bueno y el Malo. The title, which translates as The Good and the Bad, alludes to the 1966 Sergio Leone film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. So too, the music on El Bueno y el Malo draws inspiration from classic spaghetti westerns.
For their follow-up release, the brothers were interested in exploring a new environment. Estevan says, “We have a group chat with Dan, and last summer he asked us: ‘Hey, what’s up with album number two?’ We told him we’d be ready to fly to Nashville in August. So as we started writing, we asked ourselves: ‘What is it going to be?’ We didn’t want to write El Bueno y el Malo Volume Two, so we were checking out different ideas. Then there was this moment when we were playing something and, all of a sudden, we felt that we were taking the spirit de Los Hermanos and we were lifting it up to the space. That moment was so cool. We came up with a new song and that cosmic sound was there, so we called Dan and we were like, ‘Hey, we got the album title, it’s Sonido Cósmico.’ And he was like, ‘Hell, yeah, let’s do it.’”
The title track, as it appears on the record, expands on its initial formulation and reflects the brothers’ eagerness to add textures that serve the composition, as it features a richer sound palette, including strings.
Alejandro explains, “To start, we record the basics, which is my part and my brother’s part. For ‘Sonido Cósmico,’ we were sitting in the control room with Dan, who was playing something on the keys that we thought sounded nice. Then the sound engineer, Allen Parker, came up with the idea to try to do that same melody, but with strings. So once we have a solid foundation, we try to go with our feelings, trusting each other but also those two people who were with us. That’s the dream team.”
This predilection to search for the sound in such an egoless manner, while eschewing fad or fashion, has endeared Hermanos Gutiérrez to a swelling global audience drawn to music that feels innovative, elevated and true.
In anticipation of Sonido Cósmico’s release, Hermanos Gutiérrez toured the U.S. in the late spring, performing at Coachella, opening a few dates for Khruangbin and then appearing as headliners, including two sold-out concerts at Brooklyn Steel.
When asked to name a recent highlight, Alejandro points to a gig at Revel in Albuquerque, N.M., with Khruangbin. “They’ve been such a big inspiration for us and getting to know Laura, Mark and DJ was such a nice experience. It was a full-circle moment because one of the first trips that we ever did was through New Mexico four or five years ago. We experienced the desert for the first time and it stuck with us. I even think we were listening to Khruangbin. So having this show in Albuquerque, supporting the band that we admire so much and celebrating this coming together musically, was such a blessing.”
Estevan adds, “For me, it was New York. I remember 12 or 14 years ago, my brother and I did a trip to New York, just for five days. We didn’t know anybody, we just wanted to be there. Now, coming back and having two sold-out shows where people seemed to love it and Laura Lee came up on the encore, that was really cool.”
In summing up their musical connection, Alejandro offers, “I think, for me, it started in the early years. My brother was always the oldest. He replaced my father in a way, who moved out when I was 7 or 8 years old. So I always wanted to hang out with him. He played the guitar, which inspired me to pick up the guitar. I always felt this closeness to him and what he was doing with music. Of course, we’re evolving and changing, but the music has kept us together, which is such a gift.”
