Jim Andreas
Audio By Carbonatix
Singer and guitarist Jim Andreas is an easy performer to watch. He’s never simply playing. He’s living a musical vibration that warps around him like a second skin.
The Phoenix music veteran has a new project, Ones Loved, and its sound is as rich and kinetic as you’d expect. The heady, swirling rock takes you on an emotionally restorative journey from the moment you press play.
Andreas has been making music in the Valley since the 1980s, and Phoenix New Times has been following his projects — The Hoodwinks, Trunk Federation, No Volcano — all the while. No Volcano played their final show in 2024, an amicable end after 10 years. Andreas’ boundless need to create continued apace.
“I’m always writing music, so I had a lot of material,” Andreas says. He’d been working remotely with Bob Smith, a previous bandmate who lives in New York. Whereas Andreas was used to sending material to Smith for additions, Smith was now sending Andreas songs he’d written.
“I’d get them and sing, and they became our songs,” Andreas says. “I started to get really excited by it. Jenny (Tamura) and I had just decided to collaborate, and we started writing some songs. That was the nucleus — Jenny and Bob and I, as well as Jenny and I just writing together.”
Ultimately, things progressed to a full band with Jim Andreas (vocals, guitar), Jenny Tamura (vocals, cello), Jeremy Randall (vocals, guitar, keys), Robert Smith (bass, keys, guitar), and Jon Utter (drums, keys). Randall was in No Volcano with Andreas. Tamura and Randall, who are siblings, are also in the dream-pop band Timber Giant. Utter was in Flower Festival. Talk to the band about the Ones Loved Venn diagram.
The mix of people, personalities and ideas merged into a well-oiled team. “It just happened,” Andreas says. “Organically, and without a lot of effort. Everything was in alignment.”
In addition to the overall sweet personal vibes, the band’s five-song debut EP, “Oleander,” is another result of this sonic summit. And damned if it isn’t gorgeous.
The opening track, “Best For You,” draws you in with a luxurious, quietly orchestral musical introduction before the vocals hook you: “It’s not too late/Imagine that/The truth we have/Is love…”
Tamura’s ethereal voice exudes a magical aura. Andreas’s voice blends with hers exceptionally, creating a unit that makes the song denser. At the moments where they part, you want to take turns following each of them. (That’s what multiple listens are for.)
The music sitting beneath those two strong vocalists is just as captivating, equal parts psychedelic folk rock, daydreamy indie pop and hazy shoegaze. When you feel like it’s got you floating, a light gallop takes you around another corner.
In the closing track, “Slumbers,” we get a vulnerable rawness in Andreas’ singing that breaks your heart even as it comforts you. No wonder that Andreas says the songs were born during an emotional period in his life.
“At one point, I was recovering from knee surgery, so that’s one kind of pain,” he says with a laugh. “But also I have my relationship with Jenny. And that made things more meaningful because when I was singing about love, I was singing with her, and that made it more real to me.”
Tamura’s influence has him thinking more lyrically as he writes, trying to capture something true and powerful.
“I love singing and melodies,” Andreas says. “But at times, I was looking for words that fit and putting less emphasis on what the song is about. Jenny would ask me: ‘What’s this about? What does it mean?’”
Equally as soulful are the band’s videos. Andreas’s “Only Human” video, an artsy moving collage, features New York footage from Amy Verdon. The band’s video for the single “Fate by Design” — a song about Andreas’s son that examines his struggles being trans — combines hazy slides of familial scenarios with lyrics about wanting to give your kid peace and solace. It’s a testament to heartfulness.
While he has always carried a little cynicism, Andreas says hope is winning these days. “Even though there were pain points I was dealing with while writing ‘Oleander,’ I feel like the songs are very hopeful,” he says. “It’s hope about my relationship with my family and love. I’m keeping things positive.”
The band isn’t rushing to do any live shows. But they are a prolific crew. So don’t expect to wait too long before new songs and videos are ready to drop.
