Paul K - Clippings

	MAGNET sometime in 1998 Album reviews, pg 80
	PAUL K A Wilderness of Mirrors
	A sprawling, downcast, 17-song, 63-minute epic, A Wilderness Of Mirrors is purportedly the story of a married couple of subsistence farmers in the late 1940's, with the tale based on the Book of Job. That Lexington, Ky., troubadour Paul Kopasz's wife left him during the album's recording adds to the work's inherent poignancy. Uniformly ominous, with echoed production and a pseudo-orchestral sweep, Mirrors sees Kopasz force himself into songwriting's upper echelon, or at least that corridor devoted to those who effectively chronicle pain and loneliness. While the vast majority of the tunes border on slow, the fractured funk of the Afghan Whigs-flavored "Crash" and "The Bottle And The Cork" offer welcome tempo changes. The swing of "Big Bad City" is an example of the songwriter's fine storytelling ("Going to see my girl at a comedy club/Going to laugh my tear stains away"), as is the title track, with its simple, oh-so-true, "And those who love you try to change you." On song after song, Kopasz creates mini-masterpieces of sorrow, yet, as with the best rock 'n' roll, the effect is strangely uplifting and often thrilling. [Alias, 2815 W Olive Ave, Burbank CA 91505] -- Matt Hickey