My Inspiration: Hels Pattison – Unsympathetic

Photo By Adam Kennedy

Newcastle singer-songwriter Hels Pattison leans into a darker palette on new single Unsympathetic. Produced by Paul Gregory, recorded at Polestar Studios by Alex Blamire and mastered by Yellow Cat House Audio, the song’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics trace the tension between empathy and frustration, capturing the emotional fallout of being close to someone but unable to help. 

Sonically, Unsympathetic opens with a shuffling waltz and warm Americana-tinged guitar, setting a brooding, spacious backdrop for Hels Pattison’s reverb-soaked vocal. Echoes of Brandi Carlisle, Lera Lynn and Courtney Barnett surface as her voice glides through the mix, building toward a dramatic crescendo in the closing stretch—guitars snarl, beats crash, and Pattison’s vocal ascends further into something raw and goosebump-inducing.

Here, Hels tells us more about the inspirations behind the track…

I wrote this song in the week leading up to my first-ever headline show. I’d been part of a few projects before, but I’d never stepped out front with something that was entirely my own. That moment felt like a turning point – I was getting genuinely excited about where the project could go, and what our sound might grow into. Until then, most of our set was built around songs I’d originally written with an acoustic setting in mind, so I set myself a quiet challenge: write something that sounded big. I wanted a track that rose in one long, tense crescendo and finally burst open with a huge guitar solo and a vocal that felt equally cathartic. That was the musical intention behind it. (I actually played Unsympathetic at that first show, but as I hadn’t had time to work on it with the band yet – Ironically, I played it acoustic…)

Lyrically, the inspiration came from a strange coincidence at the time: a lot of my friends were coming to me with relationship problems that felt eerily similar to ones I thought we’d already talked through before. It was like having the same conversation on loop – me saying “she’s not right for you” or “this doesn’t sound like what you need,” and then watching them circle back to the same spot. There’s a point in any friendship where you want to scream, “I can’t help if you won’t listen!” But at the same time, you know that everyone has to make their own mistakes, and sometimes people don’t want a solution – they just need to vent.

So this song became that outlet for me. It was my way of airing the frustration without actually wanting anyone to stop coming to me or pretending their problems didn’t matter. It’s me wrestling with that inner voice asking, “Does it make me a bad person to feel this way? Am I brushing you off like I don’t care?” Of course I care – but sometimes it just feels good to let the pressure out. For what it’s worth, my friends still come to me with their relationship problems – but I think they’re probably a bit more selective now…!

The song itself came together surprisingly quickly once I had the theme and the sonic direction in mind. I gave my bandmates – Zachary Savage on guitar, Alex Ferry on bass, and Anneka Robson on drums – almost complete freedom with their parts, because I wanted it to feel like a true collaboration and a real expression of what each of us brings to the project. It’s become a highlight of our live set, and recording it was an absolute blast. From tearing into that guitar solo to leaning into the big vocal moments, it felt totally different from anything I’d released before. I’ve loved stepping into that sense of scale and embracing a darker side to my sound. Think – feminine rage of Alanis Morrissette meets the theatricality of The Last Dinner Party.