After Hermanos Gutiérrez's El Bueno y el Malo, an album inspired by spaghetti Western soundtracks, the Ecuadorian-Swiss siblings Alejandro and Estevan Gutiérrez got unanticipated media and streaming attention resulting in better opportunities. They played a celebrated gig at Coachella, headlined the Ryman in Nashville and Brooklyn Steel, toured with Khruangbin, and were the house band at Vanity Fair's Oscar party for Oppenheimer. Sonido Cósmico, their second Easy Eye Sound date and sixth overall, doesn't abandon their rich bevy of desert-blasted soundscapes entirely; these 12 tracks use a wider range of instruments and ponder the mysteries of space as much as the lonely, arid horizon. Producer Dan Auerbach plays a more active role. He presents Hermanos Gutiérrez's sound as intended, not considered. They are accompanied throughout by Mike Rojas on piano, Fender Rhodes, and Farfisa and Hammond organs. Other musicians include Auerbach on occasional guitar, bass, and Mellotron, Tom Bukovac (guitar), Sam Bacco (percussion), and a couple of drummers in Jeffery Clemens and Adam Schreiber. Nashville session ace Matt Combs adds strings to the title track. The greatest difference between Sonido Cósmico and its predecessor is in the songwriting. No matter how spacious, open, and drifty they sometimes sound, they are tightly crafted, with verses, choruses, and in some cases, a bridge. Opener "Lágrimas Negras" ("Black Tears") uses Estevan's slide as the lyric instrument, while Alejandro's fingerpicked electric teases out both bolero and flamenco notions, creating something mysterious, outside the grasp of the physical. "Cumbia Lunar" is nocturnal. Bacco's hand drums bubble under Rhodes and Farfisa on the cumbia vamp, while the guitarists, using wah-wah pedals and a truckload of warm reverb, weave together strains of surf, psychedelic blues, modal folk music, and danzón. "El Fantasma" sounds like the opening theme of a spaghetti Western filmed in space. Rumbling, low slide guitar lines meet a serpentine B-3, muted drum kit, and wah-wah guitar rhythms, circling one another until they leave for points unknown. The title track weds a triad of electric guitars, B-3, vibraphone, Farfisa, percussion, and strings. Combs adds an ethereal dimension to the backdrop, from which hangs subdued yet spiraling interplay between the guitarists. The baritone guitar Auerbach employs as a bass in anchoring a speedy Viennese waltz frames a dialogue between guitars and strings. The proceedings sound more than a little like Mono. That's countered in the single "Barrio Hustle," where wah-wah pedals reign supreme. Threaded through Peruvian cumbia, keyboards texture the inner space and govern the dynamics for a trio of electric guitars to weave darkly tinged Latin psychedelia across funky, trance-like, beats. "Los Navegantes" offers dovetailed guitars playing alternate melodies, spinning a single idea into a labyrinth of creative inquiry. Sonido Cósmico is gorgeous. This music retains Hermanos Gutiérrez's core musical fingerprint. That said, its collaborative strategy extends the brothers' reach in exploring genres, rhythms, colors, textures, and production techniques. ~ Thom Jurek