Among the scrapped pages of old and forgotten magazines, the words “kitty” and “craft” revealed themselves in a sparkly glint to the eyes of Pamela Valfer, who had been searching for a complementary tape cover for her music, recorded on cassettes and encased in plastic.
Valfer released the cover, collaged together in a whimsical scrapbook fashion, alongside her debut tape, “The Toytown Tape” in 1995.
Now performing as Kitty Craft, Valfer weaves together sugary samples, dewy guitars and drum loops to accompany her finger-twirling vocals. The results are uplifting, gentle rhythms that, like her tape cover, feel like a cut-and-paste collage of hip-hop and soft indie rock over an earthy, fur-covered background.
Valfer’s rise to becoming Kitty Craft pulled from her early musical experiences and an acquired taste for the weird and abstract, which became a theme to her artistry over the years. Before she started Kitty Craft, Valfer participated in a Sonic Youth-inspired band called Saucer. After leaving, she started using a four-track to record more stripped-down and beat-focused music – a harsh contrast to the heavy layering of guitar distortions and feedback from her previous band.
Shortly after, Valfer found herself unintentionally reeled into the lo-fi big beat movement of the 90s, which saw the rise of similar bands like Portishead, Cibo Matto and Saint Etienne. She described the phenomenon after recalling bands and record labels involved in the scene, particularly Seattle’s Up Records and the sample-driven projects that sonically paralleled some of Valfer’s work.
“There’s this ‘psychic soup’ creatives tap into, in which we put our net up to catch from,” Valfer said. “There’s this zeitgeist that you start to notice where you’re like, ‘wait a minute, there’s all these people who are interested in the same thing,’ and you thought you caught it yourself.”
Since the release of her sophomore album “Catskills” in 2000, Kitty Craft went on an extensive hiatus until 2020, when she released her unpublished catalog through a record titled “Lost Tapes.”
In the nearly 20 years between the release of the two records, Valfer was creatively active through other mediums, from visual to performing arts. She worked as an art professor and participated in art shows, exhibitions and a live episode of “Wheel of Fortune” for a performance piece.
“When I moved to Los Angeles, I was very interested in critiquing culture and politics and things through my art,” Valfer said. “So I decided to do some performance art where I wanted to get on a game show.”
Valfer said her performance piece at Wheel of Fortune involved a green screen tattooed on her arm that visually altered the backdrop used in the show. Over a Zoom interview, Valfer unveiled the square tattoo, located on the cusp of her wrist.
“When I spun the wheel, the background video would show through my arm on live TV,” Valfer said. “So it would puncture the illusion that it was this fake reality.”
Valfer’s participation in the show resulted in an unanticipated win with a prize of $11,000. She then used the earnings to fund her trip to Germany to attend a contemporary art festival held by SomoS Arts in Berlin.
While in the city of Kassel, Germany, Valfer collaborated with award-winning multimedia artist Olu Oguibe. Oguibe’s sculpture, “A Monument to Strangers,” was taken down by the Alternative for Germany political party in response to its critical political messages and reliance on tax dollars for funding.
While the monument was held in storage, Oguibe gave Valfer access to make rubbings of the text, which she used to create drawings to strategically post over areas of Berlin that represented historical trauma or political tension.
Valfer has been equally involved in maintaining her musicianship and art life, as she continues to immerse herself in the many exhibitionist scenes of the art and performance world.
Besides Germany, Valfer and her work have been featured in numerous other art shows across the globe, from the TCAC 10th Anniversary group exhibition in Taipei to “Two Grains of Wheat” in New York. Her work has also been recognized for several awards and grants, such as the Walker Art Center Ingenuity Award in Minneapolis.
As Kitty Craft, Valfer has been recognized by newer-generation indie giants, such as Clairo and TV Girl, and has since found a niche audience within social media platforms like TikTok. Her 1998 record, “Beats and Breaks from the Flower Patch,” is especially well-received.
“Truth be told, I know Clairo, and she is so lovely,” Valfer said. “Also, Claud is another person with Clairo and that scene – just salt of the earth, amazing people.”
Valfer said it was these connections with artists that furthered her knowledge and appreciation of today’s music scene.
”I’m getting to know what’s out there, kind of through Kitty Craft,” Valfer said. “Because honestly, ever since 2016, I can’t listen to anything but jazz.”
Despite being the creative multi-trick pony she is, Valfer said she still has her limits when approaching one medium over the other.
“I’ve always been a musician since I was 15 and even younger doing visual art,” Valfer said. “I’ve always said they’re like my two children, and I can’t have them at the same time.”
Valfer paused, reflecting on the intersectionality of the two mediums.
“My visual art has gotten very conceptual in its execution and its ideas, so when I come back to music, I think of it in a different way,” Valfer said. “I’m more able to see the holistic nature of making music to making art and moving through the world.”
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Kitty Craft will be touching down at the Starlet Room at Harlow’s this Saturday, March 29, 2025. The band will be touring Texas next month, followed by a tour supporting UK indie rock band Panchiko this summer.
Find tickets to Kitty Craft’s show at Harlow’s here.
