{"id":143437,"date":"2024-01-26T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=143437"},"modified":"2024-01-26T10:04:11","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T18:04:11","slug":"review-teja-gerkens-test-of-time-is-a-sonic-marvel-from-top-to-bottom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/review-teja-gerkens-test-of-time-is-a-sonic-marvel-from-top-to-bottom\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Teja Gerken\u2019s \u2018Test of Time\u2019 Is a Sonic Marvel from Top to Bottom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A longtime member of the San Francisco Bay Area fingerstyle guitar community\u2014as well as a writer\/editor at Acoustic Guitar<\/em> for 16 years before co-founding the stringed instrument lesson site Peghead Nation<\/a> in 2014\u2014Teja Gerken records infrequently, but when he does it\u2019s always a cause for celebration. Test of Time<\/a><\/em> is just his third solo album (On My Way<\/a><\/em> came out in 1999 and Postcards<\/a> <\/em>in 2005), though my favorite of his previous releases is his marvelous 2020 Duets<\/a><\/em> album with Doug Young (another AG<\/em> contributing writer). Young has his fingerprints on this one as well, co-engineering two tracks and mixing and mastering the album, which is a sonic marvel from top to bottom\u2014every detail and nuance in Gerken\u2019s impeccable playing can be heard so clearly.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"teja-gerken-test-of-time\"<\/a>
Teja Gerken, Test of Time<\/em> (tejagerken.com<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Test of Time<\/em> is typical of Gerken\u2019s solo live performances\u2014in fact all ten tracks are pieces that he\u2019s played onstage but never recorded. There\u2019s a terrific mix of styles and influences, from Celtic (\u201cThe Kerfunken Jig\u201d) to a jazz classic (John Coltrane\u2019s \u201cNaima\u201d) to J.S. Bach (a short minuet originally for keyboard) to an original Kottke-esque 12-string ramble (\u201cTakoma\u201d) to a mournful, centuries-old Scottish ballad (\u201cNeil Gow\u2019s Lament for the Death of His Second Wife,\u201d played with tremendous subtlety and sensitivity on a National resonator). Gerken\u2019s other heartfelt, melodic originals paint many different moods and feelings; particularly moving is his ode to his daughter\u2019s birth, \u201c11:11 PM.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from the aforementioned resonator (a 1997 Reso-Phonic Style 1 Tricone), Gerken\u2019s arsenal on the album includes a bright, glistening 1999 Lowden 010; a warm-sounding 2004 Martin Custom Shop OM; and a rich and resonant 2000 Taylor 355 12-string. Their differences bring another layer of variety to the program, as does his creative employment of multiple tunings, including DADGAD (fantastic on \u201cNaima\u201d!), CGDGGD, CGDGCD, CGDDBD, and CGCGCD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, Test of Time<\/em> is a beautiful and deeply satisfying album that definitely lives up to its title, whether you\u2019re mostly into technique and guitars, or just a casual fan (like me).  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bay Area fingerstyle guitarist\u2019s third solo album features a terrific mix of styles and influences and definitely lives up to its title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":143439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"The Bay Area fingerstyle guitarist\u2019s third solo album features a terrific mix of styles and influences and definitely lives up to its title.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[885],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1539],"class_list":["post-143437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/TejaByMischkaGerken_1.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1","authors":[{"term_id":1539,"user_id":7,"is_guest":0,"slug":"blairstringletter-com","display_name":"Blair Jackson","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/blair-jackson-headshot.png","url2x":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/blair-jackson-headshot.png"},"user_url":"","last_name":"Jackson","first_name":"Blair","job_title":"","description":"Blair Jackson is the author of the definitive biography Garcia: An American Life<\/i> and was senior editor at Acoustic Guitar<\/i> before retiring in 2023."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143437"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143448,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143437\/revisions\/143448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143437"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=143437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}