Review
Genre and Mood
Oliver Koletzki and Fran made Arrow and Bow as synth-pop, electronic pop that looks back to the 1980s. It is romantic and playful: their label described it as an authentic love song and a danceable pas de deux with one message, that love is fun.
Song Summary
Arrow and Bow was the first single from Lovestoned, the album Koletzki and Fran released on his label Stil vor Talent. The title, the label wrote, hints at what the song is about: love. Musically it called it a thrilling trip into 1980s pop sounds, with synthesizers that cause goose bumps, clap snares that move heads and toes, and Fran’s voice, which recalls the game of getting to know each other. This page is about Arrow and Bow - Original Version, as the streaming title has it: just over four minutes, the song as written, before the remixes that came with it.
Musical Breakdown
The Sound
The sources describe the materials rather than the order of the song: synthesizers, clap snares and a voice. Listen for the synth parts and the clap on the snare beat carrying the 1980s colour the label heard.
The Voice
Fran sings the love song over that beat. No source walks through its verses and choruses, so follow her line and hear how the song is built around it.
Concepts in Focus
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument that builds sound from oscillators and shapes it with filters. In the 1980s it defined pop, and that is why a label could sum up a 2010 song as a trip into 1980s pop by naming its synthesizers first.
A remix is a reworking of a finished track, usually for the dancefloor. The Arrow and Bow single came out in August 2010 with remixes by Marek Hemmann, Channel X and Koletzki himself, each longer than the four minutes and ten seconds of the original. Original Version marks this one off from them: the song as the album has it, the version the remixes start from.
Artistic Context
Oliver Koletzki, born in Braunschweig in 1974, founded Stil vor Talent in September 2005. With Fran, a singer and, in the label’s words, his girlfriend, he had already made the 2009 single Hypnotized, from his album Großstadtmärchen. Lovestoned, their joint album, came out on 3 September 2010; the CD single of Arrow and Bow added Strandbar, an airy acoustic version of another album song with guitar and piano. Fran’s voice also leads Format:B, Fran – Liquid feat. Fran - Original Mix, and Koletzki’s later techno is in Oliver Koletzki – Through the Darkness.
Impact and Reception
Lovestoned spent a week in the German album chart in September 2010, at number 87. The remixes travelled into the clubs: MusicBrainz lists Marek Hemmann’s on Stil vor Talent’s 2011 label compilation and on DJ mixes such as Body Language, Vol. 11 in 2012. Start with the original, and hear the love song under them.
