Dome

During Wire's early-1980s hiatus, Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis launched Dome as an experimental outlet. Building on their band's shift from raw punk volatility toward atmospheric abstraction across its opening trio of albums, the pair pushed further into uncharted territory by assembling found sounds, unsettling vocal fragments, broken melodic and rhythmic shards, and minimal ambient drones into disquieting, collage-style sonic assemblages.

The project surfaced in 1980 via a pair of self-released efforts titled Dome 1 and Dome 2. That same year Gilbert and Lewis issued 3R4 under their own names while also delivering the Cupol single "Like This for Ages," both appearing on 4AD. Dome 3 arrived the following year, succeeded in 1982 by Will You Speak This Word on Norway's Uniton Records. Cherry Red simultaneously put out MZUI, the Gilbert-Lewis collaboration with visual artist Russell Mills. In 1983 the duo joined Mute founder Daniel Miller, recording as Duet Emmo to produce the album Or So It Seems. Also in 1983 they formed P'o alongside longtime associate Angela Conway (A.C. Marias), resulting in the release Whilst Climbing Thieves Vie for Attention.

Although Wire reconvened in 1985, Gilbert and Lewis maintained occasional Dome activity alongside their separate experimental Mute output, with Gilbert working under his own name and Lewis adopting the He Said alias. 4AD compiled their non-Dome label material as 8 Time in 1988. Mute's Grey Area imprint later transferred the Dome catalog to compact disc through the 1992 compilations Dome 12 and Dome 34. Near the close of 1999, WMO released Yclept, a fifth Dome album drawn from unreleased recordings stretching back to 1983. Editions Mego, which had already reissued portions of Gilbert's Mute solo catalog, gathered all five Dome titles into the limited-edition vinyl box set Dome 1-4+5 in 2011.