This rising folk musician is a math teacher

Out of nowhere, Bullet Dumas has become the talk of the music town. To try and give an idea of his music, people have been comparing the 28-year-old folk singer to Joey Ayala, his sister Cynthia Alexander, and Gary Granada. Woah, right? But that’s only a jump-off point, we think.

The graduate of the first ever Elements Music Camp—that songwriting camp put up in 2010 by three music execs, chief of whom is Maestro Ryan Cayabyab—has a style all his own, one that he happily calls “chopsuey.” He listens to “almost everything: jazz, classical, rock, world, broadway, etc” he lists them to us, saying “I didn’t really stick to one genre that’s why they all went chopsuey on me.”

“Pssst!” by Bullet Dumas from isipanini on Vimeo.

The guy is releasing his first EP, a three-song offering full of nice guitar chops, unusual time measurements, different vocal phrasings, and random tunings. They are disorienting, yes but refreshing and surprising just the same. He’s quite the lucky lad—his self-titled EP is produced by none other than Robin Rivera, same guy who produced the debut record of the Eraserheads.

But the biggest surprise? Bullet is actually a math teacher. “Teaching math is really hard,” he tells Coconuts Manila. “Teaching math to adolescents is harder. Teaching math to adolescent girls is the hardest. Ever.”

Lucky girls, though, because this guy could actually be Mr. Holland, or William Forester or even Sting. “I use music in my lessons all the time, just to get their attention,” he says. “I rapped to introduce divisibility and geometry. I used bossanova for finding patterns. I used jazz and progressive rock for Least Common Multiple. I used Filipino music for set theory.” Could be interesting, no?

He says the saddest song he’s ever written, “Put to Waste” is actually dedicated to his students. It’s not on the EP, he clarifies but what we wouldn’t give to hear it. Perhaps he’ll play it when he launches his EP?

Bullet Dumas will be launching is self-titled EP on Saturday, May 10 at Conspiracy Garden Cafe, Visayas Avenue, Quezon City. 8pm. 

Photo by TJ Tantiangco courtesy of Bullet Dumas Facebook page