Published: September 26, 2026 · 1:05 AM EDT
Alejandro and Estevan Gutiérrez trace their new record to a family photograph at Machu Picchu, a journey through Peru and songs including “Ciudad Inca,” “Tren Macho” and “Canto Andino”
Hermanos Gutiérrez have built their music around landscapes without needing words. On their new album Los Ojos del Cóndor, released September 25 through Easy Eye Sound, brothers Alejandro and Estevan Gutiérrez turn that cinematic approach toward the Andes, with Peru becoming one of the clearest physical and emotional reference points behind the record.
One of the sparks came from an old family photograph showing their Swiss father at Machu Picchu decades ago. The image stayed with the brothers and eventually contributed to the idea of making a record connected to the Andes and to their own South American family history. Alejandro and Estevan were born in Zurich to an Ecuadorian mother and Swiss father and also have family ties to Peru.
The connection became more tangible after the music had already been written. The brothers traveled to Peru, visiting the Machu Picchu region and filming parts of the journey. Estevan later told Billboard that standing at Machu Picchu and traveling through the country gave them an unexpected confirmation of what they had created: “this album is from here.”
That Peruvian presence is visible throughout the record. One track is titled “Ciudad Inca”, while “Tren Macho” was inspired by the historic railway connecting Huancayo and Huancavelica in the Peruvian Andes. The album artwork also emerged from the journey, using a photograph the brothers took of two women walking with llamas through the Peruvian landscape.
Musically, Los Ojos del Cóndor returns Hermanos Gutiérrez to the simplicity of the two-guitar sound that originally defined them while expanding their palette. Estevan played the album on the nylon-string guitar his father gave him when he was eight years old, while Alejandro introduced the charango into their recordings. The sessions also incorporated additional percussion and organ, creating a warmer and more organic setting for their instrumental storytelling.
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The album was once again produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys at Easy Eye Sound in Nashville. It is the third Hermanos Gutiérrez studio record produced with Auerbach, following El Bueno y El Malo in 2022 and Sonido Cósmico in 2024.
The opening track, “Canto Andino,” establishes the album’s geography immediately, moving between acoustic guitar, organ and darker slide-guitar textures. Its official video incorporates imagery from the brothers’ journey through Peru, including performers and traditions documented around Chinchero.
For an instrumental group whose music has often imagined deserts, roads and distant horizons, Los Ojos del Cóndor feels unusually grounded in identifiable places. Machu Picchu, Inca imagery, the Peruvian Andes and a family photograph provided real-world coordinates for a record whose story ultimately unfolds without lyrics.
LOS OJOS DEL CÓNDOR – TRACKLIST
Canto Andino
Los Ojos Del Cóndor
Alma Mia
Ciudad Inca
Yanantin
La Danza Del Viento
Tren Macho
Waway
Los Andes
Dios De La Paz
Watch Hermanos Gutiérrez’s official “Alma Mia” music video, drawing on imagery from the brothers’ journey through Peru and the Andean landscape that inspired Los Ojos del Cóndor, below:
Written by Gino Alache – Music Journalist
IMAGE CREDIT: Jackie Lee Young.
