Hataałiinez Wheeler aka Hataałii is sharing his latest single “Land Of Poor Chance,” the follow-up to his 2021 self-titled LP and his first release for Dangerbird Records. “Land Of Poor Chance” is a wistful, evocative waltz that Hataałii says he “wrote the first version in school when I was failing all my classes, and so I’d just roam around with a lot of regret and stuff. Carrying all that gets pretty heavy but I think it might be good for making songs.” The song is the first of several singles recorded in Los Angeles with producer Joel Jerome for Dangerbird’s Microdose singles series and comes paired with a video directed by Wade Adakai.

This year, Hataałii releases two new songs: the wistful, evocative waltz “Land of Poor Chance,” and late-night indie ballad “Presidents Got Me All Night.” Hataałii’s first songs made with a producer — Los Angeles indie-folk singer Joel Jerome — these two tracks reveal an artist looking to make music that’s nothing less than “the most raw form of expression possible.” The pair of songs are among the most cinematic Hataałii has ever made — fitting, for a year that’s seen him star in an episode of AMC’s acclaimed Dark Winds. Inspired by Hataałii’s eye-opening experiences attending the University of New Mexico, both tracks find him coming to terms with the everyday strangeness of young adulthood, the alienation of moving to a larger city, and power dynamics within relationships. Both songs are, of course, generous, funny, and profoundly open-hearted: in other words, quintessentially Hataałii.

Photo Courtesy: Shaun Price