Pavement's 'Terror Twilight' Turns 20

Stephen Malkmus was spelling it out for us. The Pavement frontman has never been known as a straight shooter, and surely it's folly to take anything out of his mouth at face value rather than assuming his every word is both slanted and enchanted. But how else were listeners supposed to interpret lyrics like the ones strewn throughout Terror Twilight? "Time is a one-way track and I am not coming back." "The damage has been done/ I am not having fun anymore." "I was tired of the best years of my life." Even the title Terror Twilight, selected by percussionist/mascot Bob Nastanovich and often explained as a reference to the treacherous driving conditions during "the short span between sunset and dusk," suggests time running out. Pavement's fifth and final LP — which turns 20 years old this Saturday — is unmistakably a breakup album. Who's breaking up is not immediately so clear; most of the songs could just as easily be chronicles of a dissolving romance, and maybe that's what they are.