Hermanos Gutiérrez’s ‘Los Ojos Del Cóndor’ Album Is an Ode to South America’s Andes Mountains: ‘It Felt Like a Dedication to This Whole Region’
Categoria: Musica
It marks the brothers’ third project produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach.
Por Billboard | 25/09/2026
All it took was one photograph of Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez’s father standing in Machu Picchu in 1987 for the brothers, known as Hermanos Gutiérrez, to find inspiration for their next project. Their studio album, Los Ojos del Cóndor , which translates to “the eyes of the condor,” arrived Friday (Sept. 25) as a love letter to the stories, sounds and energetic magnetism of South America’s Andes mountain range. Related Hermanos Gutiérrez Release New Album ‘Sonido Cósmico’ Produced by Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach SXSW’s Film and Music Verticals See Largest Overlap Led By Jack Johnson’s ‘SURFILMUSIC’ Doc Beabadobee Blasts to No. 1 on ARIA Chart With 'Pylon' “I think it was a natural calling that we felt before we went to the studio,” Alejandro said in an interview the brothers had with Billboard in June. “We felt like from the desert, from the cosmic sound that we had in the past, we just wanted to feel and discover a new landscape. And there’s not another place that is as strong and powerful as the Andes in South America because it connects so many countries from north to south, and it felt like a dedication to this whole region.” Los Ojos del Cóndor is a 10-track album that connects Hermanos Gutiérrez’s cinematic work through a recurring musical motif, sometimes emerging through guitar, while other times through organ. This creates a sense of movement and continuity across the record. The brothers’ guitars weave through the arrangements, with Estevan playing every track on the nylon-string guitar his father gave him when he was 8. Alejandro also brings a new sound to the mix by playing the charango, an Andean stringed instrument, on several songs. Produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, it’s the third studio album released by the Ecuadorian-Swiss duo that Auerbach sits behind, after first producing their 2022 breakout project El Bueno y El Malo and their 2024 LP Sonido Cósmico . The latter reached the Billboard 200 with its spacious and deep dreamy sound that intertwines guitar melodies and gentle Latin pulses driven by subtle percussion. “When we recorded in Nashville, Dan was there, and he was kind of supervising, but also he let us do what we wanted to do,” explains Estevan. “That feeling of having the freedom of being creative but knowing that the boss is approving everything — that felt really good. So this time at the studio, we felt very comfortable and I mean, all the time, but this was very special.” For the brothers, producing such an intentional project felt like a gamble. Los Ojos del Condor spotlights the region that spans and connects Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. The name also holds cultural significance. Historically, the condor holds a sacred place in many indigenous Andean traditions, including those of the Incas, who considered it a ruler of the upper world and a messenger to the sun god. Today, it remains a symbol of