After months of Internet rumors and lots of gossip in all the music magazines, it’s finally been confirmed: Pavement, the quintessential indie "college-rock" band, has definitely broken up. Most of the band’s fans knew it was coming, but the momentum that accompanied the breakup was surprising. As soon as Matador Records’ website began to refer to Pavement in the past tense, news about lead singer Stephen Malkmus’ solo project had already reached sweater-wearing indie-nerds everywhere.

Malkmus has a history of playing small solo gigs, but only a month after news of Pavement’s demise, Matador announced that his solo record would be released February 13. Thanks to Napster, the whole album was online before the beginning of this year.

The question on people’s minds: is Malkmus any good without Pavement behind him? The answer isn’t simple. Yes, his new album is just as good as some of the last few albums that Pavement put out, such as Terror Twilight or Brighten the Corners. It’s not a classic like Slanted and Enchanted, but it’s also not 1991 anymore, people! If Malkmus doesn’t "rock" as much as he used to before, he more than makes up for it with his clever, insightful, and sometimes even silly and fun lyrics. And we all know it will never be the same without the heroin, anyway.

Malkmus’s new band consists of Joanna Bolme (his rumored girlfriend) and John Moen, who call themselves The Jicks. This new line-up is a little more mellow than Pavement was, but Malkmus hasn’t forsaken the strange little touches that made Pavement good. There are still maracas, falsetto voices in the background, and plenty of sing-along "ooh’s" and "ah’s."

The album opens up with "Black Book," which sounds exactly like a song from 1997. The lyrics? Vintage Malkmus! Nothing makes much sense until you stop trying and just listen to the song as a whole. As far as I can tell, this song is about being betrayed by a "greedy, false un-Catholic knave." Consequently, it’s a bit darker than the other songs on the album.

"Church on White" is reminiscent of the few slow, emotional Pavement songs, such as "Stop Breathing." In a recent interview, Malkmus expressed pride that he and The Jicks are covering wider territory, and that this song isn’t just "a walk in the park." He even suggests that the listener fast-forward to the end of the song to hear some "beautiful, impassioned guitar."

With "The Hook," Malkmus creates yet another immediately catchy song. This time, it’s about how he was kidnapped by pirates. "At age 19, I was kidnapped by Turkish pirates/Mediterranean thugs…/By 31, I was the captain of a galleon/I was Poseidon’s new son/The coast of Montenegro was my favorite target/It was ever so fun." It might sound ridiculous, but it’s one of the most fun songs on the album.

"Jenny and the Ess-Dog" displays Malkmus’ newfound interest in writing the occasional narrative song. "Jennifer dates the man in the ‘60s cover band/He’s the Ess-dog, Sean if you wish/She’s 18, he’s 31/She’s a rich girl, he’s the son of a Coca-Cola middle man." Even though you hear the irony in his voice, you still feel a bit wistful when he sings about how college can tear apart two people apart: "now the Ess-Dog waits tables and he sold his guitar/Jenny pledged Kappa and started pre-law."

There are one or two songs on the album that probably aren’t going to be instant favorites, but they’re still good in their own right. After all, who else can write a good song that name-drops figures from Greek mythology? Besides Manowar. Even though I’ll be waiting for that Pavement reunion tour, Malkmus’ solo career looks like it will keep getting more interesting, and probably involve more thrift-store shoes and sweaters.