Paul Kalkbrenner 'Cloud Rider' by Björn Rühmann

Cloud Rider, the first video for Paul Kalkbrenner's forthcoming seventh album, suitably entitled 7, is the opening salvo of a music video trilogy directed by Björn Rühmann called FLORIAN, which focusses on the increasingly painful adventures of a true innocent abroad.

Florian, with ill-advised open-heartedness, attempts to share the music he loves with strangers via his headphones, only to receive continual rejection, and increasingly, aggression. It is meant to parallel the peculiar outsider role of the electronic dance music genre in the US. Despite its origins in Chicago and Detroit, the electronic style to this day hasn’t arrived in mainstream America and is paradoxically considered ‘foreign.’

The trilogy was written by Alexander Nowak and Felix Richter, two creative directors at ad agency Droga5. It's the first time the agency has been involved in making a music video, and at the moment there is no visible involvement of another brand.

And If this is being produced under a more advertising type of model, its a fascinating first step - both funny and harrowing - and shows that Björn Rühmann is a talent to be reckoned with.