While Stephenson's earlier works exude the excitement of "something's gonna happen", the sweet bird of youth is "on the way to Santiago" since then, life seems to have taken the artist on the long and rocky road. In the same way, "Girl With A Mirror" is darker; more composed, and more reflective but hope does not desert us. In music and lyrics, Stephenson transforms the undoubtedly more sombre aspects of life, loss, disappointment and disillusionment, into pure poetry, lights up the pastel blue of an Amsterdam sky, and the dark clouds are, ultimately, not the last word. And, what's more: Paul Stephenson is accompanied in the true sense of the word supported by the outstanding musicians whose interaction is intimately interwoven in such a way that the whole is more than the sum of it's parts, and the 15 songs of this album already give us a vivid impression of what Paul Stephenson sounds, and feels like, in concert and what it's like to be there. "Girl With A Mirror": In the mirror of the mermaid-like beauty of the girl featured on the album cover we just read one word: Masterpiece.