The Gentle Reckoning Turns Up the Volume on Burning Away The Dawn

By Chris Kennedy | Published 26th Sept, 2026

Sometimes stepping away is exactly what you need to rediscover why you started in the first place. After spending 12 years away from music, Jamie Wells found himself drawn back to songwriting during the isolation of lockdown. With the outside world suddenly grinding to a halt, all those reasons for picking up a guitar came flooding back - and with them came a prolific period of writing.

The result was The Gentle Reckoning, a studio project that has since produced a steady stream of singles and given Wells a space to explore themes of distance, belonging, emotional recovery and personal reflection.

Now, with latest single Burning Away The Dawn, The Gentle Reckoning is turning up the amps and showing us a considerably louder side.

The Gentle Reckoning Turns Up The Distortion

Built around a rotating cast of musicians, The Gentle Reckoning has always been centred on Wells' songwriting.

The songs usually begin with just Jamie and an acoustic guitar, gradually being worked into shape before other musicians enter the picture. That's where things can take an interesting turn, with the players bringing their own instincts, arrangements and additional flourishes to the music.

It's a formula that has worked well. A string of releases has earned The Gentle Reckoning praise from music publications as well as national radio exposure.

But Burning Away The Dawn feels like a shift.

Moving away from the more familiar singer-songwriter territory, Wells puts his foot firmly on the distortion pedal and embraces the project's rock influences. The result is bigger, louder and considerably more muscular.

And it suits him.

Burning Away The Dawn Packs A Serious Punch

There's no gentle introduction here.

Burning Away The Dawn opens with strummed, distorted guitar chords before a wailing riff cuts through the mix. Then the drums arrive - and they arrive with some force.

Crashing cymbals and a driving snare give the track a thunderous energy, pushing everything forward while the guitars create a wall of sound around them.

Against all that noise, Wells initially takes the opposite approach with his vocals.

The verses are delivered softly, almost quietly, creating an effective contrast with the weight of the instrumentation underneath. But that restraint doesn't last.

As the track moves into the chorus, Wells lets go. The subdued vocal gives way to a powerful, passionate shout, adding a rawness that matches the increasingly forceful instrumentation.

It's that quiet-versus-loud dynamic that gives Burning Away The Dawn much of its impact. Rather than going full throttle from beginning to end, the song gives itself somewhere to go - and when it gets there, it hits hard.

From a 2021 Song to the Finished Recording

Interestingly, Burning Away The Dawn isn't exactly a new song.

Wells originally wrote the track back in 2021, but it wasn't until he and the band headed into Manor Park to record with Neal Calderwood that it finally found its finished form.

For the recording, Wells was joined by Adam Callaghan on drums and John McCullough on keys, helping transform the original idea into the full-bodied rock track we hear today.

That collaborative element feels important.

There's still a singer-songwriter heart beating underneath Burning Away The Dawn, but rather than allowing the song to remain anchored to its acoustic beginnings, The Gentle Reckoning lets the arrangement become something bigger.

The guitars roar, the drums hammer away and the vocals move from introspection to release.

Final Verdict

Burning Away The Dawn is The Gentle Reckoning with the volume turned up.

It's a track built around contrast: quiet vocals against distorted guitars, restrained verses against explosive choruses, and Jamie Wells' singer-songwriter roots against a much heavier rock backdrop.

Most importantly, the change in direction doesn't feel forced. Beneath the distortion and crashing cymbals is the same emotional songwriting that has driven The Gentle Reckoning from the beginning - it's simply being delivered with considerably more firepower.

The single, Burning Away The Dawn, is available through all streaming platforms.

Photo Credit: The Gentle Reckoning