Brothers Alejandro and Stefan Gutiérrez use their guitars to explore the big skies and wide open spaces of the American west on El Bueno y El Malo.
Shortly before their sold-out show at Antone’s earlier this month, the Swiss siblings visited us in Studio 1A to share a handful of songs from the new album. With a title borrowed from the iconic Ennio Morricone scored Western, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, the instrumental guitar duo sets the listener up for a cinematic experience with songs that evoke the subtle variations and epic sense of space that defines the southwest. There are no breakdowns or soaring solos on El Bueno y El Malo. No catchy guitar licks or hooks to grab the listener’s attention. Instead, Alejandro and Stefan blend every note together like landscape painters stitching the sky to the sand with small, confident brushstrokes. Album producer and longtime fan Dan Auerbach described it as “very close to nature, somehow. There’s something beautifully natural about it. Some music sounds like tall, jagged buildings. This sounds like wide-open spaces in the outdoors.”
“Some music sounds like tall, jagged buildings. This sounds like wide-open spaces in the outdoors.”
Producer Dan Auerbach in Rolling Stone
Sonic globetrotting comes naturally to the Gutiérrez brothers. Born to a Swiss father and an Ecuadorian mother, they spent their childhood in between two distinctly different cultures. Living in Switzerland with extended family vacations in Ecuador meant soaking up the Latin hits of the 40s,50s, and 60s from their grandparents while sharing Western favorites like surf rocker Jack Johnson with their friends. Despite their shared upbringing, it wasn’t until an impromptu jam session in Stefan’s Zurich apartment that the brothers’ diverse musical backgrounds gelled into a cohesive sound. Now, the connections run deep and both brothers cite each other as one of the most important musical influences in their lives.
The duo’s fifth studio album, El Bueno y El Malo, is out now on Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound imprint. Hermanos Gutiérrez ended their North American tour with a string of sold-out shows and plans to return for a few Texas dates in the spring of 2023, so be sure to keep them on your radar.
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Set List:
“El Bueno Y El Malo”
“Tres Hermanos”
“Thunderbird”
“Pueblo Man”
Musicians:
Stefan Gutiérrez – guitar
Alejandro Gutiérrez – guitar
Credits: Producer: Deidre Gott; Audio Engineer: Jake Perlman; Rene Chavez; Audio Mix: Jake Perlman; Cameras: Michael Minasi, Renee Dominguez; Edit: Renee Dominguez; Host: Rick McNulty
