Peter Beardsworth is a name that you might not know yet, but the Nottingham musician has been part of a lot of projects in the last couple of years, including the Invisible Orchestra, Three Body Trio, and producing soul singer Yazmin Lacey’s last two EPs, Black Moon and When The Sun Dips 90 Degrees. Now he finally ventures out as a solo artist with his first EP, Pour Un Homme Seul.

Pour Un Homme Seul is a French phrase that translates to “for a single man,” which not only makes reference to the fact that this is his first solo project, but also that this project was born out of a period of solitude. Beardsworth suffered a traumatic accident that saw him lose the lower part of both of his legs, and in the year that followed, he turned to music and began to write himself out the funk. The result is an EP that is driven by saxophone, his main instrument, and winds it way through jazz compositions that are influenced by soul, psychedelic rock, hip hop, and electronic music. Over the course of the EP, he’s joined by Tom Towle on drums, Roshan Gunga on guitar, George Butt on bass, Daisy Godfrey on vocals, and Ling Peng on Ehru, a two-stringed bowed instrument from China. Beardsworth takes their live contributions, and then fleshes them out with his sax, synthesizer, drum machines, samples of found sounds, and other woodwinds. A lot of ground is covered in his five compositions on the EP. The opening track, “To The Place,” builds a ‘70s jazz-funk groove, with a definite Roy Ayers Ubiquity vibe to it. “Buried” gives you a piano ballad that builds in some unexpected ways. When you get to “Purify,” we’re into an experimental electronic soundscape, with layers of vocal samples and synthesizers building and playing against each other, before transitioning into a cool, late night downtempo vibe. The title track is really interesting in the way that energetic and bright drums and bass play against this melancholic melody played on string and woodwinds. The EP then ends on its sexiest and most live track, “Back To You,” which features warm bass lines and smooth, smooth sax.

It might be his first solo release, but Beardsworth has been putting in the work in other roles, and the result is that he’s more than ready for this challenge. Pour Un Homme Seul is incredibly complex, genre-blending, and very rewarding.