Dome was an experimental side project of Wire's Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis, formed when their main band went on hiatus during the first half of the 1980s. As Wire had progressed from a volatile punk band to a more atmospheric, abstract one over the course of their first three albums, Lewis and Gilbert 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, Lewis and Gilbert released 3R4 under their own names and a single called "Like This for Ages" as Cupol, both on the 4AD label. Dome 3 appeared in 1981, and Will You Speak This Word followed in 1982 on Norwegian label Uniton Records. Cherry Red also issued MZUI, Gilbert and Lewis' collaboration with artist Russell Mills, that year. Dome collaborated with Mute Records founder Daniel Miller (aka the Normal) in 1983 for a project called Duet Emmo, 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.C. Marias), releasing Whilst Climbing Thieves Vie for Attention.

Wire re-formed in 1985, but Lewis and Gilbert continued sporadically recording as Dome as well as releasing experimental solo albums on Mute, with Gilbert recording under his own name and Lewis using the moniker He Said. 4AD issued 8 Time, a compilation of the duo's non-Dome work for the label, in 1988. Mute's reissue sublabel The Grey Area 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 WMO near the end of 1999. Austrian label Editions Mego, which had re-released some of Gilbert's solo work for Mute, reissued all five Dome albums as a limited vinyl box set, Dome 1-4+5, in 2011. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi