Zeal & Ardor’s Manuel Gagneux launches Yacht Rock side-project Soft Captain

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Watch the video for Soft Captain's chilled-out debut release Too Long

Soft Captain
(Image credit: Soft Captain / YouTube)

In one of the year's most left-field new launches, Zeal & Ardor’s Manuel Gagneux has started a Yacht Rock side-project, Soft Captain.

A duo featuring Gagneux alongside Basel, Switzerland-based experimental artist Samuel Tschudin, Soft Captain released the video for their debut single Too Long on June 10.

Announcing the project on social media, Gagneux writes, "I have also a Yacht Rock band now. Make of that what you will."

Watch the video for Too Long below:

If you're unfamiliar with the world of Yacht Rock, may we direct you towards Katie Puckrik's excellent documentary I Can Go For That: The Smooth World Of Yacht Rock, which is currently streaming on BBC iPlayer.

Manuel Gagneux also makes pop music under the name Birdmask, and has an electronic project called GEIZ.

Paul Brannigan
Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.