When Christian Fennesz announced his return to Editions Mego (formerly Mego), the great experimental label that released his masterpiece Endless Summer, many people weren’t sure what to expect. The first track, “The Liar,” was pretty dark compared to the sun-bleached bliss of his landmark record. But that beauty was still obviously present in Fennesz’s music if you heard his collaboration with Autre Ne Veut last year. Now “Static Kings” appears along with a statement that the new record, Bécs, is indeed a conceptual follow-up to Endless, and now it seriously shows. Here noise and static drift like waves, as treated guitar melodies bounce and refract like beams of light. It’s a jaw-dropping moment of not just beauty, but noise music made beautiful, something at which Fennesz has never been bested. Listen below.

Bécs is out 4/29 via Editions Mego.