Nearly a decade ago, singer-songwriter-guitarist Bombino told his longtime manager, Eric Herman, that he wanted to open a recording studio in his home country of Niger. “It is materially a very poor country,” says Herman. “It’s rare to find studios that would be up to world-standard in Africa in general.” Plus, since Bombino — who champions his Tuareg identity and culture in his lyrics — usually spends eight months of the year touring, Herman felt “it needed some sort of outside push to get going.” That push came in 2019 when Welsh producer-engineer-musician David Wrench (who mixed Bombino’s 2016 album, Azel) approached the artist about working together again.