(soniclovenoize reconstruction)
Side A:
1. Side A
Side B:
2. Side B
Household Objects is one of the most intriguing and experimental projects by Pink Floyd, though it was never officially released. The album was conceived in the mid-1970s as a follow-up to their highly successful The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). It's often referred to as a "lost album" or "unreleased album," and its story is a fascinating example of the band's creative process.
The concept behind Household Objects was a radical departure from their earlier sound. The band aimed to create music using everyday objects, rather than traditional rock instruments like guitars, bass, and drums. The idea was to incorporate things like cans, bottles, radios, and other common items to create unique, experimental sounds. This was part of Pink Floyd's ongoing exploration of sonic experimentation and their desire to push the boundaries of music production.
The sessions for Household Objects began in 1974, with the band experimenting with various objects to create sounds. Some of the ideas included using the resonance of a cardboard box, the clinking of glasses, and even the sound of a vacuum cleaner. The idea was to manipulate these sounds in ways that would form musical textures, beats, and atmospheres. While some of the material recorded during these sessions was quite promising, the project faced multiple challenges.
One of the key issues was that the band's vision for the album was not fully realized. The soundscapes created by household objects, while innovative, were not always easy to arrange into cohesive songs. Additionally, there were technical difficulties in capturing and processing these sounds in a way that would make them musically satisfying.
The Household Objects project was eventually abandoned around 1975. Much of the material was shelved in favor of more traditional studio work, and Pink Floyd turned their attention to the recording of Wish You Were Here (1975), which became another classic in their catalog.
Though Household Objects was never officially released, some of the ideas and experiments from this project can be heard in fragments throughout the band's later work, especially in the more experimental passages of Wish You Were Here and Animals (1977). There are also rumors that some of the recorded material exists in bootleg form, though it's not widely circulated.
In the years since, the concept of Household Objects has become a fascinating "what if?" story in the Pink Floyd legend, a testament to the band's willingness to experiment and take risks during their creative peak. While it wasn't completed, it remains a notable part of Pink Floyd's legacy as a pioneering force in progressive and experimental rock music.
The sound of Pink Floyd's Household Objects is one of the most elusive and experimental in the band's history, as the album was never officially completed or released. However, we can get an idea of what it might have sounded like based on various descriptions and the experimental direction the band was exploring at the time.
The idea behind Household Objects was to create music using everyday objects instead of traditional musical instruments. This meant that the sound would have been characterized by non-traditional, often organic, and unusual sound sources. Here are some key elements of what the music might have sounded like:
1. Experimental Soundscapes
The album would have been rich in unconventional soundscapes, with a heavy emphasis on textures. Pink Floyd was keen on experimenting with the sonic possibilities of objects like bottles, cans, pieces of wood, and metal. These objects would have been struck, rubbed, or manipulated to produce percussive sounds or resonant tones. The result would likely have been ambient, eerie, and atmospheric, with a focus on creating mood rather than melody or traditional song structures.
2. Industrial and Mechanical Noises
The concept of using household items meant that the sound palette would include everyday mechanical noises — like the hum of a vacuum cleaner, the clink of glass or metal, or the whirr of machines. These sounds would be distorted, looped, and layered, giving the album an industrial, avant-garde vibe. Given that Pink Floyd was already exploring deep, atmospheric sound on The Dark Side of the Moon, Household Objects would have pushed that even further with an almost otherworldly, alien quality to the music.
3. Minimalist and Experimental Instrumentation
Some of the music from Household Objects has been described as being minimalist, with long stretches of time where subtle sound textures and tones take precedence over melodic or rhythmic development. The use of household items likely resulted in strange, mechanical rhythms that were far more abstract compared to the more traditional rock drumming or keyboard patterns heard on albums like The Dark Side of the Moon or Wish You Were Here. There were also reports of the band experimenting with things like a "cardboard box drum kit," which would have made the sound even more unconventional.
4. Atmospheric and Spacey
Given that Pink Floyd was at the height of their exploration into spacey, psychedelic atmospheres during this time, Household Objects would have likely had a dreamlike, floaty quality to it. The experimental use of everyday objects would have created a surreal sound environment, with drones and ambient noises filling the space between what might have been sparse, abstract compositions. Some of the sounds would probably have felt very organic and organic, as though the objects themselves were the instruments.
5. Fragmentary and Incomplete
Since the project was never fully completed, the recorded material from Household Objects might have lacked the cohesive structure found in Pink Floyd's more finished works. The idea of creating music with found objects would have resulted in a fragmented sound, one that could be viewed more as an exploration of sound rather than a fully realized album.
6. Hints of Experimental Rock
Even though the album was meant to avoid traditional instruments, some of the material recorded during the Household Objects sessions reportedly included fragments of more conventional rock instrumentation, possibly hinting at the direction that the band would take on later albums like Wish You Were Here and Animals. There are mentions of tracks that utilized more familiar elements like synthesizers or guitars but mixed them with the unusual sounds created from the household objects.
Overall Vibe
The music would have been abstract, experimental, and deeply atmospheric. It might have been unsettling at times, almost like the sonic equivalent of an avant-garde film, with elements of surrealism, industrial noise, and ambient sound blending into a unique listening experience. The absence of traditional structure or melody would have made it feel far more exploratory and avant-garde compared to Pink Floyd's more polished albums, focusing on creating mood and texture over conventional songcraft.
While it’s impossible to know for sure what Household Objects would have sounded like, it’s clear that it was an ambitious project that would have explored new boundaries in music production, sound design, and experimentation.
