Will Eastman keeps adding members to his projects. The U Street Music Hall co-owner’s last single, “No Sleep,” was a collaboration with another local, Micah Vellian. Along with Outputmessage, the producers also form a trio called Volta Bureau, which released its first song, “Let Go,” yesterday. (Not to complicate things, but Micah Vellian and Outputmessage also collaborate as Dmerit.) The song starts out as a straight-up prog-house jam, before slowing its tempo amid layers of ghostly come-ons.
After Eastman remixed a Dmerit track and Dmerit remixed an Eastman track last year, “it became clear last year we all have similar musical interests and a good work rapport,” Eastman writes in an e-mail. “The good thing about having three producers is there’s lots of ideas, lots of creativity, and a good deal of checks and balances in terms of quality control.”
Eastman once worked at the National Museum of American History, so I’ll assume the group’s name is his doing: The Volta Laboratory and Bureau, a national historic landmark, is a structure in Georgetown built by Alexander Graham Bell as an educational center for deaf persons. I’ll not be pointing out any ironies.