Exquisite Torment is the second EP from This Questionable Life following up their debut, The Softest Heart, from 2022.
The EP’s gloriously named title track is the opening song of the three on show. It just takes a glance at the names of the songs to give an indication of what you can expect musically. With Exquisite Torment and the closing eponymous song bookending the self-deprecatingly titled Car Crash of Me, it’s glaringly obvious that these aren’t going to be happy go lucky pop songs. Thankfully. Yeah, OK, maybe sometimes you need those throwaway songs that wash over you without touching your soul but, arguably for me, I need music to make me feel. Feel real. Feel happy. Feel sad. Feel angry… I need to feel a reaction to what I’m hearing. Feel something. And bizarrely sometimes feeling down is better than feeling numb or feeling nothing at all.
Just because some songs maybe sound dark from their seemingly disconsolate and downcast titles, it doesn’t mean they can’t entertain. If the gritty reality of the lyrics comes straight from the heart, and feel personal, honest and truthful, they feel more real and relatable. And if musically the tunes are potent and unyielding, and the dark rhythms drive their point home while demanding your full attention, they can be inspiring and uplifting.
These three songs tick all these boxes.
I mean life sucks sometimes, I’m sure we all have those days where everything we touch turns to shit and we question our own meaningless existence. But let’s just think for a minute, if we didn’t have those shit days, would the good days feel as good? Songs and music like this are life affirming in that they are real, they don’t sugar coat the shite, they tell it like it is and in doing so help you realise you’re not alone. Yes, there are other people that feel the same as you, the torment is real, but it is sometimes what makes us feel… and it’s not just that torment but life that can be exquisite, especially when we realise that we can make it through those days that seem hopeless and breakthrough into the light.
Bandcamp link – This Questionable Life