Hide And Seek

The first time I heard Imogen Heap's Hide and Seek was New Year's Eve, 2005. Bryant and I were headed into LA to see the Natural History Museum exhibit inspired by Jared Diamond's book Collapse. We'd eaten brunch with my parents and brother at Mimi's, and as the rain pounded Harriet and Bryant navigated slick freeways, I nodded off in the passenger seat, only vaguely conscious of Morning Becomes Eclectic's Best of 2005 countdown. At first, I thought it was a choir, and in my liminal dream-state pictured gently swaying techno-hippies in white robes, maybe something like the Polyphonic Spree. Later, I googled the playlist, discovered the artist, and bought a copy of the song.

Hide and Seek is currently in rotation on the Marathonator, and every time I hear it, I think about what it would sound like in a choral arrangement. And because my mind runs in predictable pathways, especially when I'm running, I then think about how it would be fun to sing it in a small group, and how the last time I sang in a small group was in an octet of senior girls for Senior Recognition, and how it's been nearly 10 years now since I graduated from high school.

Last night, I finally did a search to see if anyone else had pondered the possibilities of a choral arrangement of Hide and Seek, and discovered that it had, in fact, been done. Here is a pretty decent performance of it; if you haven't heard the original,* you should check it out first.

*The video was easiest to find, but I suggest just listening...