Consisting of teenage multi-instrumentalist stepsisters Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse, each of whom possess wonderfully unique yet complimentary voices and viewpoints, Skating Polly’s raggedy, fuzzy stomp calls to mind Heavens to Betsy and Bratmobile, while their acoustic songs channel Kimya Dawson and Tegan and Sara. Spector-scope reverb (courtesy of Exene Cervenka!) gives these defiantly lo-fi meditations on bad friends, boys, parents, the afterlife, and activism an appropriately grand feel that is tempered by both girls’ youthful voices and punctuated by their childish laughter and shouting. Humid, bright, fun and deep, this record feels like one of your last pre-high school summer days of scheming, playing, and being thirteen that ends with a sleepover at your best friend’s house, in the best possible way.
Listen to this: while riding your bike on a hot day through your hometown and past your old (or current?) friends’ parents’ houses.
— Jamie Varriale Vélez