Gone Girl

Obongjayar’s voice is the whole reason I’m here — that cracked, urgent rasp that sounds like it’s being pulled out of him. On this one, over a Sarz beat that stays patient and spacious, he sings from inside the exact moment you realise the person beside you has already started to leave, and hasn’t found the words yet.

It’s a Nigerian record in its bones and a heartbreak record in its subject, and the two fit together better than they have any right to. I keep it close because it does something rare: it makes a sad song feel like movement instead of collapse.