Inside the NORTH GATE Sessions

Every record Prime6 makes begins with one question: what does the artist actually want this to sound like when it’s playing in a car, at night, on a street they grew up on?

For KAI NORTH, the answer was strings.

The brief

“I want it to feel like a late-night documentary about a city that most people drive through,” KAI said in the first pre-production meeting. “Patient. Specific. Real.”

That became the brief for everybody in the room — producer, engineer, the string section we pulled from U of T’s faculty of music, and Peter E. acting as executive producer.

Three weeks, one block

We cut the entire EP in three weeks at the Prime6 studio in the west end. Days were spent tracking, nights were spent mixing. The string section came in on a Saturday and tracked all six arrangements in a single ten-hour day. The choir came in on a Sunday.

No samples. No AI. No shortcuts. It’s the hardest way to make a record. It’s the only way we know.

What’s next

NORTH GATE is out now on all platforms. KAI headlines the Danforth Music Hall on May 12, 2026. Strings and choir will both be on stage.