Also this issue:

suitespot
-Peter Burwasser on Classical

Spork in the Road
Two vagabond electronic artists are tuning out and moving on.
-A.D. Amorosi

Palomar
-Brian Howard

From Autumn to Ashes
-Andrew Parks

Unsilent Night
-A.D. Amorosi

KlezKamp
-Mary Armstrong

Reviews
-Patrick Rapa, Paul Burress and A.D. Amorosi

Beat Box
-Ain Ardron-Doley

December 19-25, 2002

music

Disappearing Act

TWO OF THEM: Doug Hirlinger(left) and Keisha Hutchins of VPE. ãPeople outside of Philly have mad respect for Philly and the creative juice and people itâs pumping out,ä says Hutchins.

How the Vanishing Peoples of the Earth materialized in Philadelphia.

by Patrick Rapa

It might be hard for the casual music fan to believe -- especially one who doesn't live here -- but some musical artists actually choose to work in Philly.

Vanishing Peoples of the Earth did. The soul/hip-hop duo met and started working together in the Big Apple, and found out it had a lot of worms.

"I did the New York thing for a few years," says singer Keisha Hutchins, who grew up in West Mt. Airy and has lived just about everywhere. "Worked with a few dead-end producers, starved, struggled, fell for all the lame promises of things that would never come."

"I was basically getting tired of being a poor struggling artist up there. New York is a hard place to be poor," says multi-instrumentalist Doug Hirlinger.

"I was fiending to go back to Philly, probably since the time I left," says Hutchins, who watched the neo-soul scene blow up with her hometown at the epicenter. "I remember living in London and reading about Josh Wink having a monthly residency there. People outside of Philly have mad respect for Philly and the creative juice and people it's pumping out.

"The word on the street [in New York] was that Philly musicians were on the embracing, collaborative vibe -- which was not my experience in New York."

Eventually she came back, and brought Hirlinger with her. If they were ever going to finish their first album -- they'd been collaborating for two and a half years at that point -- they were going to do it here.

They did; You Might Be One of Us came out in August, released on the group's own NotNice record label.

For a debut disc, it is poised and purposeful. Most of the songs let Hutchins embellish with her smooth, haunting voice overtop Hirlinger's sweet hip-hop beats and jazzy organ melodies. Invoking everyone from Björk to Sarah Vaughn to Tricky, You Might Be One of Us mixes moods while the beat stays steady.

While the neo-soul revival might have been what inspired VPE's vibe and lured them to Philly, VPE doesn't quite fit the bill. Don't expect anything like Jaguar's bitter-but-empowered eff-you songs or Jill Scott's upbeat sass. Hutchins' lyrics move much more subtly. The social consciousness is submerged in intrigue; the sexiness is darkly contemplative. An uncertain air draws your ear into a shadowy place, then keeps you there with head-bobbing electronic beats. Like a good haunted house, VPE knows when to swing the door shut behind you.

The CD's most enthralling moments come early, on "Chosen," a spooky song whose foreboding tone is set by an echo-y rhythm and a reverberating keyboard riff -- before Hutchins utters a word. Then she starts in with "I remember the night it happened " and you're hooked. The lyrics capture the moment Hutchins got a call from her father telling her that her mother, whose health had been failing for awhile, probably wouldn't make it through the night.

"When I lost her, obviously everything changed, but not [only] in the ways you might think. In addition to the sadness and the anger, I felt like I was given gifts and insights," says Hutchins, who speaks unhesitantly of her faith and spirituality. "Nothing felt the same, looked the same, even tasted or smelled the same. I felt almost born again with new senses, stronger than before. My sense of living, my desire to live was intensified -- even in my darkest moments of grief."

Like their music, the members of VPE can be intense and introspective one minute, then upbeat and energetic the next. Both are positively ecstatic about the vibrant, supportive scene they've found in Philadelphia.

"I think Philly has the highest ratio of talented producers, musicians and artists per capita anywhere," says Hirlinger, who played just about all the music on the You Might Be One Of Us "And it's small enough that you can meet people and build with them."

"You can walk up to some of the names that are coming out of here and give them your CD and they are really peace to you and cool," says Hutchins. "There is such a feeling of possibility and hope here, which is so important when you are just starting out and nobody knows who you are."

Vanishing Peoples of the Earth perform Fri., Dec. 20, 11 p.m., $5, with DJs Edwin and Argo of Mud People, Aqua Lounge, 323 W. Girard Ave., 215-769-5114.