Free
Centre
Chromatic Myriad
August 15 → July 31
The PHI Centre showcases a light installation with evolving content, adapting to the seasons and exhibitions
PHI Centre
Space A
315 Saint-Paul St West
Montreal, Quebec, H2Y 2A3
Doors: 7 pm
Show: 8 pm
General admission: $19.13
Taxes and fees not included
The Hermanos Gutiérrez concert is now sold out.
Before visiting, please review some essential information about the visit, including details on accessibility at the Centre.
For more details on safety measures in place at the PHI Centre, visit our COVID-19 page.
Taking influence from 1950's Latin America Sound, Hermanos Gutiérrez will transport audiences through beautiful landscapes on their El Bueno y El Malo 2022 Tour.
“When Alejandro and I play together, it’s like we are driving a car,” says Estevan Gutiérrez, one half of the guitar duo Hermanos Gutiérrez. “It’s like we are taking a road trip. Sometimes we’re driving through a desert. Sometimes we’re traveling up the coast. But always we are in nature, and we see the most beautiful landscapes, sunrises, sunsets.” The music these two brothers make evokes expansive plains and rough wildernesses, saguaros and surfs, spaghetti westerns and Morricone soundtracks, Lynch and Jarmusch. With their guitars they travel through landscapes haunted by vaqueros, cancioneros, wanderers, fugitives, lovers, family—and whatever ghosts their listeners bring to the music. “Each album is a journey on its own,” says Alejandro Gutiérrez. “We just have to go with the music, trust in ourselves, and see where it takes us.”
El Bueno Y El Malo is their most epic journey yet: Working with the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach at his Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville, they’ve crafted ten vivid compositions that highlight their intimate guitar playing, where one brother’s rhythms and the other brother’s melodies twine around each other so that they become inextricable. Together, they generate what Estevan calls a “deeper, darker energy” defined by complex arrangements, sophisticated playing, and most of all their very close relationship. “We have such different personalities and such different approaches,” says Alejandro,” but in the end we have a strong balance. Because we’re brothers and because we love each other, there’s always this connection.”
The title of the album is, of course, a reference to Sergio Leone’s legendary 1966 spaghetti western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and especially its score by Ennio Morricone. But the phrase has a deeper meaning: “We think that everybody has a good side and a bad side,” says Estevan. “It’s every person, every moment, every situation. Everybody has these two faces.” It’s not a cynical idea, but one that celebrates the depths and dualities of humanity, and music—even music that does not include vocals or lyrics—is the perfect vehicle to explore such big ideas. “Instrumental music is so powerful,” says Alejandro. “It’s there, but it’s not there. You can immerse yourself in it, or it can just be in the background. We love the idea of taking up however much space the listener wants. There’s potential for everyone putting a little of themselves into the music.”
The sons of a Swiss father and an Ecuadorian mother, Hermanos Gutiérrez have only been playing together for a few years, but music has always been a point of connection for them. “I started playing guitar because of my brother,” Alejandro says. “He was always playing, and I loved the sound of it. Then he went to Ecuador for a year, and as an expression of missing him, I started playing the guitar as well. I learned by trying to imitate other songs, but soon realized that I didn’t like playing covers. I wanted to play my own music.”
In the mid 2010s Alejandro moved to Zurich, not too far from the small village where his brother lived. One night he invited Estevan over and told him to bring his guitar. Together, they worked out a few melodies that quickly turned into fully realized songs. They didn’t intend to start a band together, but soon decided to record an album. They booked time in a studio and soon emerged with their full-length debut, 8 Años, named for the age difference between them. Their only ambition was to make a keepsake for themselves and their families: “We love collecting old vinyl, so we thought we should make our own,” says Alejandro. “But it was also a moment for us to reconnect. Music helped us to be together in the same moment and create something new. So let’s just do a record for us.”
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