Under the Patio is the debut LP from Little Thief, a romantic couple (apparently recently engaged), and White Stripes style, drum 'n guitar rock duo comprised of Charlie Fitzgerald and Rhii Williams. She's the drummer and he's the string man, and they both sing. The entirely crowdfunded album dropped last year with a simple purpose; to rock your world! I wasn't always a fan of this style of rock music back when it was regularly on the radio. But since its dropped out of regular airplay rotation, I find myself really missing it. And by "this style of rock music" I mean high-gloss roots rock like the Black Keys. Like the aforementioned band, Little Thief updates the blues and country-western playbook with bold, cracking guitar work and narrowly off-kilter grooves that manages to bridge the hard rock of the '60s with the indie aesthetics of the 21st Century. The indie proclivities of the band can't be undersold, not only because of their scrappy attitude, but also because of how clearly they adore bands like the Pixies and '90s post-rock, a fact that is evident from the production all the way down through to the way Charlie tosses off certain lyrics with a Black Francis-esque yelping croon and penchant for wavy Joey Santiago style riffs. Even though Little Thief are diehards for the underground, Under the Patio feels like too big of a record to stay nestled in obscurity and under wraps for long. Pretty soon it's going to come bursting up from the rafters like Gorgo and then we'll have two choices: flee for our lives, or kneel before our new radioactive rock god. I know which way I'm going and I have a ribbon around my finger to remind myself to buy a fresh pair of kneepads.
