Track Work: Outputmessage, ‘Minuscule’

Electronic-music producer Bernard Farley, a 30-year-old Dupont Circle resident, is something of a math whiz: A test developer at the American Institutes for Research, he helps devise math content for standardized tests. He’s brought that technical mind to much of his creative work, particularly Outputmessage, the name he’s been recording under since he was a high school student in Richmond, Va.

This Sunday at Velvet Lounge, Farley celebrates the March 25 release of his third official Outputmessage LP, “The Infinite Void.” He gave Bandwidth an early listen to the spacious, immaculately produced album—which glides between house, techno, and pop—and told us more about the album’s centerpiece, a slow-builder of a track called “Minuscule.”

“Something about it seemed special to me,” Farley writes in an email. “Its sound was more human and tribal than any of the other songs I had worked on for the album.”

He says the album is “really the story of our place and our small role in the universe,” and “Minuscule” represents humanity’s existence and journey into outer space.

“‘Minuscule’ seemed like the moment to celebrate our creation, our survival, our evolution and our understanding of the universe,” Farley writes. “That’s why I wanted more vocalists for the choral part. I wanted it to be epic! … The rest of the record is very restrained, but ‘Minuscule’ became my symbol for triumph no matter how short and fleeting it is.”