Tales of the Mosaic is a 2022 indie pop-rock EP from writer, producer, and composer Patrick Boey. It tells its unique, magical story over the duration of 4 distinct pieces or fragments, bookended by an intro and an outro.
A mosaic of infinite
colours and tiles
You try to assemble some beauty worthwhile
— An EP by Patrick Boey
with cover art by Holly Braico
What is the EP About?
Tales of the Mosaic by Pat Boey is a concept EP that revolves around the central concept of a magical mosaic, or puzzle, which several greatly differing people attempt to piece together in a way that resembles the ‘beauty of all life’.
Tales of the Mosaic — Lyrics
mosaic (intro)
The beginning was simple, you came into the earth
With naught but some dimples, a cry and some mirth
Not long after that, you were handed some tiles
And told to portray the beauty of life
Each tessera alone may confuse
Enrage or appease, or give you the blues
But put the pieces together, and see
There’s endless capacity for what it could be
A mosaic of infinite colours and tiles
You try to assemble some beauty worthwhile
penelope and the lone flower
Penelope would never be caught dead in a dress
The world would see a mystery, a wonderful mess
She tried, how she tried to be someone else
But Penelope could never be untrue to herself
So it came to be, her family pushed her away
Her father left, her mother wept, her sister she blamed
She travelled out to the promised land
She got lost, and so crossed the City of the Damned
Under a red sky, towers once divine
In ruins for miles, one thing caught her eye
A single flower rose out of the rubble alone
It was more beautiful than anything she’d ever known
She went to the North, she went to the East
She wanted to find a haven at least
And so, she arrived at the Garden Town
Fertile soil and fresh air and nobody around
This town had a secret known only to few
Penelope uncovered it on day two
A ten by ten magical mosaic
Riches and wonders promised to all those who can make
The Beauty of All Life, she began work with glee
With one thousand tiles, how hard could it be?
For she’d been painting and drawing since before she could talk
All she had to do was pour all her pain into art
She thought of the flower that she’d seen
In the place ripped apart at the seams
And that’s what she made with the tesserae
For her, the beauty of life was the way
That even after the darkest of days
We can still be okay
When she was done, the mosaic, it started to glow
A door clicked open in a tree of oak
Inside were endless supplies for her art
Penelope squealed with delight, and went to fetch a cart
Well, Penelope was right, sometimes beautiful sights
Shine even more brightly after a blight
But she only painted a single frame
Of a long, full life about more than just shame
And under the mosaic, the second secret door
Still awaited the one who could give something more
But Penelope became an artist for pay
And she lived happily until the end of her days
maurice and the dream-catcher
Maurice was a silly man
Maurice was a very, very silly man
Even awake, he’d dream
As eclectic as he seemed to be
He asked the questions
Is sleep possession?
Or just a lesson of love
But he couldn’t get enough
So he made the Dream-Catcher
The Thought-Snatcher
To store all his wanderings from midnight until dawn
So he could see what he was dreaming of
The mosaic came to him in a reverie of memory
He played it back with fervent desire, his entire
World became a dream
For the mosaic this was his theme
For the Dream-Catcher
The House-Thatcher
A shelter from all that’s wrong, the glory and the stories
The Beauty of Life for Maurice
The mosaic required real life beauty
And that’s what he could never show
Though he’s happy to be foolish
That’s why he’ll never know
For Maurice was entranced by dreams out of his reach
He forgot to wake up and spent all his life asleep
Asleep
Asleep
Ba-dee-dah-dah-dee-dah-dee-dee-dah-dum
Ba-dee-dah-dum
Ba-dee-dah-dum
Ba-dee-dah-dah-dee-dah-dee-dee-dah-dum
Ba-dee-dah-dum
Ba-dee-dah-dum
Ba-dee-dah-dah-dee-dah-dee-dee-dah-dum
Ba-dee-dah-dum
Ba-dee-dah-dum
Ba-dee-dah-dah-dee-dah-dee-dee-dah-dum
ruth’s truth
There once was a girl — a girl called Ruth
This is how she found the mosaic
Ruth, never such a smile could be seen as hers
Her shining eyes always disguised the hurt
If only she could stop the clocks from ticking by
So she would always smile
Ruth treasured every beautiful moment
Saving every photo for the good times
The perfect days forever frozen
So when she was unhappy, she’d just look
Golden sunsets, joyful laughs
She wanted just to make them last
She had so many friends
So many compliments
She wanted to remember them
So when she saw the mosaic, she didn’t hesitate
She painted all her wonderful days
Every beautiful moment
Filling the mosaic with all her
Favourite times, forever frozen
And now they’d last as long as the mosaic
Every beautiful moment in her life
Perfect days were all frozen
They were golden, happy times
One of her many friends came up to her
And she said
Truth is beauty and beauty, truth
A lesson learned the heart of Ruth
Truth is beauty and beauty, truth
caulfield and price
Mr Caulfield, the terrific liar
Cynicism fit him like glove
Slipping in the mire
He heard a choir singing about love
Solitary Fanny in the garden
She sang and watched the stars all by herself
Feeling something ardent
She begged the pardon
Of everybody else
Well they ran from the hounds, and they ran for the hills
Ten thousand pounds or a lifetime of thrills
Meant nothing at all if there was no one to call
They hoped that by their denouement
They’d get the only thing they wanted
Little Phoebe, ecstatic in her blue coat
Riding soaked through on the carousel
Holden watched her go
And he didn’t even know
Why he was happy as hell
Fanny hung on til the end when
The universe aligned her fairy tale
The only man she’d give her hand to
Together they prevailed
Well they ran from the hounds and they ran for the hills
Ten thousand pounds or a lifetime of thrills
It meant nothing at all if there was no one to call
They hoped that by their denouement
Of pure innocence did the rebel render
And happy ever after the romantic shewed
On the mosaic upon a silent hilltop splendour
Of life the beauty they had pursued
Well they ran from the hounds and they ran for the hills
Ten thousand pounds or a lifetime of thrills
It meant nothing at all if there was no one to call
They hoped that by their denouement
They’d get the only thing they wanted
the beauty of all life
Just look at this—it could take us years to do this
It’s a good thing we’re doing it together
By a house near the ocean, built lovingly by hand
Two travellers converged: a woman and a man
They both sought to solve the fabled mosaic
They endeavoured as one, and found love along the way
They made a home, they made it whole
They lived it till it filled their souls
In sickness and health, they knew
They’d never be alone
They placed the tiles with loving smiles
In patterns of their hopes
And so they lived their lives
With love and light, they lived
We did it—can you believe it?
Yeah, I can
She wrote odes to him while waves broke along the shore
(Beauty by the waterside, by the waterside)
And he consoled her when grief shook her to the core
(Holding on to one another, holding on to each other)
Their child brought light, and became the best parts of them
(Beauty in a new life, in a new life)
They had a life so full that they would do it all again
They made a home, they made it whole
They lived it till it filled their souls
As years went by, husband and wife
Lived ardently in hope
And in the blackest night
The answer led them to the light
The Beauty of All Life
Was the life, the whole life that they lived
The Beauty of All Life
Was the life, the whole life
They lived
mosaic (outro)
Your endeavours take you to places unseen
To people unmet and to lives left unled
You worry you’re wasting your own life away
By having bad thoughts and forgetting your place
Because now you exist, in a century you won’t
The chances are slim that by then you’ll be known
But while you’re here, you place the tiles
The beauty is the lifetime making something worthwhile
So at the end of the world, when it comes time to die
Be content, as you’ve already had the time of your life
And though your mosaic may be pulled apart
You put it together
You are your own work of art
The Characters of Tales of the Mosaic
- Penelope, the lost artist who sees beauty in desolation, wanting so desperately to know that all the pain is worth it in the end. To her, beauty is the way we go on through the darkest of hardships.
- Maurice, the slumbering fool who cannot see past the fantastic images from his dreams and to reality. To him, beauty is the ethereal.
- Ruth, the insatiable socialite who treasures her happiest memories in photographs and conversations. To her, truth is beauty, and beauty, truth.
- Caulfield—a not-so-subtle moniker for Holden Caulfield from J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye—who searches hard for beauty and ends up finding it back where he left. To him, beauty is family.
- Price—another literary character, Fanny Price from Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park—who desires the traditional beauty of marriage and a fulfilling life as a wife. To her, beauty is love.
- The husband and wife, the couple who spent their whole lives together, piecing together the magical mosaic, and realising in the end that the ‘beauty of all life’ was the entire life they lived together.
What Does Tales of the Mosaic Sound Like?
The EP initially begins with a single piano and vocal line, then turns to folk rock with the arrival of Penelope, the first of the venturers looking to solve the mystery of the mosaic. Next, we change from acoustic guitars to electric as Maurice searches his dreams for something to hold onto. In ‘Ruth’s Truth’, we enter a different, more modern realm, with synthesisers, modulators, and electronic drums. We’re back to folk rock in ‘Caulfield and Price’, and then wrap up with a pulsing synth-pop finale in ‘The Beauty of All Life’.
Much like the folk and theatre inspired lyrics of each song paints a different image and tells a different story, so does the musical composition, textures, and arrangement. While composing each song, I considered each song to have a different ‘voice’, much like each of the characters would have. Except, the music and lyrics served as a narration, a backdrop to the real action.
Tales of the Mosaic is a series of stories, each a pastiche and a tile from a mosaic in their own right, that combine to offer a thoughtful concept about what ‘beauty’ truly means, and where it fits into this crazy thing we call life. This was my first full-length EP with a united concept (yes, before Vellichor and Future’s End) and I am very pleased to share it with you.
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