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Hermanos Gutiérrez | The Auditory Impulse 

Via Issue 192, Gettin' Around

Written by

Augustus Britton

Photographed by

Kurt Iswarienko

Styled by

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Left to right: Estevan wears talent’s own jacket, shirt, hat, earrings, necklaces, bracelet, and rings. Alejandro wears talent’s own jacket, shirt, and necklace. 

Desert Rain. Turquoise. Tan Skin. Full-Grown Mustaches.
Ecuadorian-Swiss accents.
Are you listening yet?
If not, check your pulse.
If not, we can’t help you.
Other than to introduce you deeper into the realms of Hermanos Gutiérrez.
The older brother is Estevan.
The younger brother is Alejandro.
They are an instrumental band.
Surprising—on more than one account.
Mainly surprising when first listened to.
The whole thing of them not singing any lyrics is as equally jarring as it is refreshing.
And airing more on the side of refreshing.

Ah.
You can breathe.
They aren’t really asking for anything, after all.
And when you speak to the brothers it feels as if they aren’t even asking you to listen to their music.
Which creates this undeniable appeal.
This sweetness.
This sanctity.
Sanctity in a world full of culture whores in the flames of broken spotlights.
But falsity for the Hermanos? No.
The only light they seem to want is that of the sun and that of the moon.
Gentle yet real.
True.

Left to right: Estevan wears talent’s own jacket, shirt, shoes, hat, earrings, necklaces, bracelet, and rings. Alejandro wears talent’s own jacket, shirt, shoes, and necklace. 

A writing process that is more about feeling than actual words. They are one of those creative efforts that looks as natural as shooting stars.
“We never had intentions of being a band or travelling around the world or reaching so many fans,” Alejandro admits, leaning in, speaking as softly as his lap guitar weeps, “it was purely because we wanted to play and connect and create some art that is eternal.”
Eternal like when you listen to the brothers’ upcoming release Sonido Cósmico.
Which sounds like you’ve just fallen in love in a desert sea. With an alien.
Big eyes.
Open hearts.
Honey all over your hands.
Easy drums nearby played by the arms of cacti.
Perfectly etching its spirit onto your eardrums.
Relaxing your nerves to Kingdom Come.
Calling on the Gods of music in the distant universe and Heavens.
Inspiration found in film composers and Latin American elan. “I see space. I don’t see limits,” interjects Alejandro, silver bangles rapping on the table like his maracas must be nearby, “and in the process of working on this record [Sonido Cósmico] it was about not feeling the limits of creation. Sometimes I can feel restricted by my own perspective, by my own reality, but because there was so much confidence in us with this new relationship with Dan Auerbach we just trusted the process. We were curious about things. We were always in the desert before this trying to do that desert sound, but now we expanded it to the cosmos, and this record is so much more diverse than the previous one, and more universal.” 
Although the brothers have been making music together for almost a decade, the horizon is now looking fresh, in part because of Easy Eye Sound.
Speaking of process, speaking of Dan.
What is a band without a producer?
Easy Eye Sound is the Nashville-based musical label and haven founded by Grammy-winning Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys.
Both of the brothers speak fondly of the man.
Noting how he lets their process be true to who they are, albeit the brother’s initial concern as to whether Auerbach would want to change their style, maybe add in some God-forsaken vocals, but no, let their truth be their truth.
“How we write is almost the same [as it was when we started],” recounts Estevan, “just the two of us in Switzerland, but knowing that we can share our ideas with the recording team in Nashville with Dan and the studio engineer, there are so many ideas that we can try out now, and that opened the horizon.” And the sun has risen.
As it always does.
And it will set.
Flares erupting off its skin that we shall never see except as remnants baking our bodies.
Inspiring us to create more beauty, more of that stuff we call music.
On the wings of these gentlemen.
Who actually feel like gentlemen.

Left to right: Estevan wears talent’s own jacket, shirt, shoes, hat, earrings, necklaces, bracelet, and rings. Alejandro wears talent’s own jacket, shirt, shoes, and necklace.

They shake hands.
They look you in your eyes.
They speak from their hearts.
Potentially a dying breed.
Alejandro, the younger, speaks, sagacious precocity in the air, heart on sleeve, cards on table, “The challenge is happening now. Sometimes you’re always craving for more and with every new record it’s like: Are we doing this for us or are we doing this for the audience? Why are we doing this? I think that’s what I’m asking: Why am I doing something? Is it the same as it was seven years ago? I think that’s interesting. Be true to yourself. Not doing things because they are going to be liked, but doing it because you want to do it, but I think we’re strong in that. It’s a very subtle line.”
Subtle.
Like desert rain.
Subtle in that you don’t exactly know when it’s coming.
Then.
There.
It falls.
Subtle then powerful.
Like when you meditate.
And you think about what you will say after the meditation is done.
And then the meditation is done and you open your eyes and you realize words are pointless.
We use words and then we fuck it all up again.
Again.
And again.
So we finally learn to listen.
And realize there is enough there to begin with.
Like the music of the Hermanos.
Like when we realize we are meditating not to learn how to speak, but to learn how to listen. 

Left to right: Estevan wears talent’s own jacket, shirt, hat, earrings, necklaces, bracelet, and rings. Alejandro wears talent’s own jacket, shirt, shoes, and necklace.

Photographed by Kurt Iswarienko

Written by Augustus Britton 

Grooming: Carolina Pizarro at See Management

Flaunt Film: Camryn Spratt

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Flaunt Magazine, Issue 192, Gettin' Around, Hermanos Gutiérrez, People, Augustus Britton, Kurt Iswarienko,
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