Hermanos Gutiérrez turn their attention toward South America on Los Ojos Del Cóndor, an instrumental journey inspired by the Andes, family history, and the cultures that shaped brothers Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez. Produced by Dan Auerbach at his Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville, the 10-track album finds the Swiss-Ecuadorian duo expanding their unmistakable guitar interplay while reconnecting with the music and places at the heart of their heritage.

Their mother is from Ecuador, while their great-grandmother's roots extend to Peru, and that history provides much of the album's foundation. The brothers also draw from Argentine milonga, cumbia and the vast Andean region stretching across South America. The connection became even more personal through memories of their father's travels through the continent in the 1970s, including a photograph of him at Machu Picchu years before he met their mother in Ecuador.

That sense of place comes through immediately on opener "Canto Andino," where acoustic guitar and organ introduce the record's Andean character. The title track combines galloping rhythms with lap steel, suggesting the view from high above the mountains through the eyes of the condor, a bird closely associated with the Andes and featured on Ecuador's national flag. Recurring musical figures connect "Los Ojos Del Cóndor," "Ciudad Inca" and "Los Andes," giving the record the feeling of one continuous trip.

Alejandro also introduces the charango, the small Andean stringed instrument, into the brothers' music, using it on "Canto Andino," "Ciudad Inca," "La Danza Del Viento" and "Tren Macho." The latter was inspired by Peru's historic Tren Macho railway, which links communities between Huancayo and Huancavelica. Elsewhere, the delicate "Yanantin" takes its name from an Andean concept of complementary duality, an especially fitting idea for two brothers whose individual approaches continually meet in the middle.

At the center of it all remain the two guitars. Estevan even used the nylon-string guitar his father gave him when he was eight years old on the album, bringing another piece of family history directly into the sessions. A decade into their recording career, the brothers continue to communicate through melody rather than words, with one guitar answering, shadowing and supporting the other.

Even the album artwork grew out of that connection. During a trip to Peru, Estevan photographed two women walking up a hillside with two llamas, an image that ultimately became the front cover, while Alejandro photographed the two condors used on the back. Together, the images mirror the themes of brotherhood, duality and South American culture running throughout the record.

With Los Ojos Del Cóndor, Hermanos Gutiérrez bring their music closer to the people, places and family history that helped make them who they are. The result is a deeply personal trip through the Andes, told without lyrics and carried by two brothers, two guitars and a shared musical language all their own.