Too bad school’s out, we’ll have to wait until September to see if Terror Twilight will have the desired effect in the dorm rooms across America. Pavement has long been one of those bands that have divided folks into two camps: the adoring fan and the mildly amused (no one can actually hate Pavement, they’re just too much fun.) This new record is produced by Nigel Godrich, whose latest credits include Radiohead’s “OK Computer” and Beck’s “Mutations”. It’s safe to say, he’s got a sound.

Pavement have a sound, too, of course. Some say it's the sound of a band playing as it falls asleep. Singer Stephen Malkmus has got a weird Frank Black meets Pauly Shore thing mixed with an occasional fake Brooklyn accent. The blending of producer and band reaches a faux-heady perfection on “Terror Twilight,” swooping Moog noises, echoing guitar loops, strong solos, upfront and striking vocals, each crack and bent note amplified. It’s a towering achievement, and the songwriting here is typically strong, with a few tunes (“Major Leagues,” “Platform Blues,” “Speak See Remember,” “Folk Jam”) rivaling their best. And then there’s the lyrics.

I don’t really have the energy to get into the whole lyrics-of-Pavement thing. The New Yorker magazine already tried, in a rare case of treating rock music like the high art it can be, befuddling a good number of their readers, and coming away with a great big question mark. I can respond to Pavement’s curious lyrics: they make me laugh. That doesn’t mean “it’s all a joke,” but, hey, you know, you can’t just go la-la-la all day. Phrases jump out in front of the already unique music: “Irish folktales scare the shit out of me,” “Pardon my birth, I just slipped out,” “Relationships--hey hey hey,” “There’s blood in the butter, the dishes are closed.” Those are just the first that come to mind.

There's just a tremendous amount of things to get happy about with this record. The melodies are lovely, the trippy production dispels any doubt that Godrich is not the next Eno, and Pavement, still true to their older art-indie credo, are nevertheless branching out a bit. There’s an extended array of instruments here, a few aural nods to 70s power-chord riffs, a few dips into different registers for Malkmus, and this is the first time (on the song “The Hexx”) I noticed some fierce guitar soloing that would even work in a . . . well, in a regular song.

“Terror Twilight” has taken up a squatter's residence in my CD player. It’s a damn fine piece of work.