Pavement [ tickets ]'s singer/guitarist Stephen Malkmus told a London audience on Saturday (11/20) that the show was the indie-rock band's last. The band's label, however, has not received a statement from the group.

Malkmus reportedly hung a pair of handcuffs off a mic stand at the Brixton Academy show and declared, ''This is what it's like being in a band.'' Adding to the speculation, fans have debated online whether certain band members seemed apathetic or just tired at various English shows.

As of late Monday afternoon, Matador Records did not know the group's status. In a post to the Matador website message board, label co-owner Gerard Cosloy wrote that the label didn't have a statement from the group, nor had it been authorized to give one. A label publicist could not disclose whether the group is under contract to produce more albums.

Brixton was the final date on an arduous European tour that followed an extensive American schedule. On both legs of the tour, the band regularly played five or six nights in a row. Malkmus--who has said that the only reason he sings is because he's the only one in the band who can--had problems with his voice on both sides of the Atlantic. Still, fans were generally thrilled with the shows, which included most cuts from the band's fifth full-length album, ''Terror Twilight.''

While it's possible that the group could completely end its ten-year life, it's also possible that the group members will recuperate and pursue their own creative projects until they decide to produce more music together. Group members live in different U.S. cities (Malkmus in Portland, OR; guitarist Scott Kannberg in the Bay Area, CA; bassist Mark Ibold in New York City; drummer Steve West in Virginia; keyboardist/percussionist Bob Nastanovich in Louisville, KY). The original group was actually a duo project of Malkmus' and Kannberg's; they added other instrumentalists later.

Since its second album ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain,'' the band has purified its sound beyond the lo-fi garage haze it started with. But with ''Terror Twilight,'' produced by Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, the group moved even further toward crystalline layering, similar to Radiohead's ''OK Computer'' album.

''We felt like we hadn't made an expensive, high-fidelity album yet, and all of us are pretty pleased with the results,'' Nastanovich told Q&A Magazine.

Right before and after ''Terror Twilight,'' the group released two EPs: the five-song ''Spit on a Stranger'' and the seven-song ''Major Leagues.'' Even if Pavement doesn't continue to make new music, its sixteen EPs and five full-length albums leave behind a strong body of work.