Dome

Dome was an experimental side project of <a href="spotify:artist:2i8ynmFv4qgRksyDlBgi6d">Wire</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:0ZGxa4U7nK1m3tpTgSdVDK">Bruce Gilbert</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1r5HEsRaurRrqtqhtYvgpN">Graham Lewis</a>, formed when their main band went on hiatus during the first half of the 1980s. As <a href="spotify:artist:2i8ynmFv4qgRksyDlBgi6d">Wire</a> had progressed from a volatile punk band to a more atmospheric, abstract one over the course of their first three albums, <a href="spotify:artist:1r5HEsRaurRrqtqhtYvgpN">Lewis</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0ZGxa4U7nK1m3tpTgSdVDK">Gilbert</a> took this experimentation further, utilizing found sounds, eerie voices, fragmented melodies and rhythms, and sparse ambient drones to produce unsettling collage-like sound constructions.

Dome debuted in 1980 with two self-issued albums (Dome 1 and Dome 2); during the same year, <a href="spotify:artist:1r5HEsRaurRrqtqhtYvgpN">Lewis</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0ZGxa4U7nK1m3tpTgSdVDK">Gilbert</a> released 3R4 under their own names and a single called "Like This for Ages" as <a href="spotify:artist:1zvFiHCnG7ChNYr9NeKyNC">Cupol</a>, both on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%224AD%22">4AD</a> label. Dome 3 appeared in 1981, and Will You Speak This Word followed in 1982 on Norwegian label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Uniton+Records%22">Uniton Records</a>. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cherry+Red%22">Cherry Red</a> also issued MZUI, <a href="spotify:artist:0ZGxa4U7nK1m3tpTgSdVDK">Gilbert</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1r5HEsRaurRrqtqhtYvgpN">Lewis</a>' collaboration with artist <a href="spotify:artist:7qgrHCgmp0Frz2ZlRPjDeS">Russell Mills</a>, that year. Dome collaborated with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mute+Records%22">Mute Records</a> founder Daniel Miller (aka <a href="spotify:artist:6y1jbhyM2QbpU3Bm8Z8fbe">the Normal</a>) in 1983 for a project called <a href="spotify:artist:34PRiTLuxbZTF5ulmIrd1x">Duet Emmo</a>, resulting in an album titled Or So It Seems. Also in 1983, the duo formed a project called P'o with frequent collaborator Angela Conway (<a href="spotify:artist:1AflKUFcBPDdHHyLNagENU">A.C. Marias</a>), releasing Whilst Climbing Thieves Vie for Attention.

<a href="spotify:artist:2i8ynmFv4qgRksyDlBgi6d">Wire</a> re-formed in 1985, but <a href="spotify:artist:1r5HEsRaurRrqtqhtYvgpN">Lewis</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0ZGxa4U7nK1m3tpTgSdVDK">Gilbert</a> continued sporadically recording as Dome as well as releasing experimental solo albums on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mute%22">Mute</a>, with <a href="spotify:artist:0ZGxa4U7nK1m3tpTgSdVDK">Gilbert</a> recording under his own name and <a href="spotify:artist:1r5HEsRaurRrqtqhtYvgpN">Lewis</a> using the moniker <a href="spotify:artist:35nCHjNmrXypTkskdFzuwB">He Said</a>. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%224AD%22">4AD</a> issued 8 Time, a compilation of the duo's non-Dome work for the label, in 1988. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mute%22">Mute</a>'s reissue sublabel <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22The+Grey+Area%22">The Grey Area</a> brought the Dome catalog to CD in 1992 with the release of two compilations, Dome 12 and Dome 34. A fifth Dome album, Yclept, consisting of unreleased recordings dating as far back as 1983, appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22WMO%22">WMO</a> near the end of 1999. Austrian label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Editions+Mego%22">Editions Mego</a>, which had re-released some of <a href="spotify:artist:0ZGxa4U7nK1m3tpTgSdVDK">Gilbert</a>'s solo work for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mute%22">Mute</a>, reissued all five Dome albums as a limited vinyl box set, Dome 1-4+5, in 2011. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi