Dome - 1&2 (1980&1981) + 3&4 (1981&1982)

Just as Colin Newman followed his hard-edged pop ideals once free of Wire, Graham Lewis and Bruce Gilbert also followed their own musical concepts, if one can call it music. Their passion for repetition, sound-loops and making a piece that can stand in isolation, were able to flourish, no longer stemmed by Colin Newman and Mike Thorne's more commercial leanings.
One had seen hints of what was to come with the Wire tracks Former Airline and The Other Window, both more-or-less made up of organised noise with narratives over the top, but little could have prepared the average listener for Dome.
Dome 1 was the first release and begins in a slightly mediocre fashion but at least highlights the duo's intentions in the narrative: 'Change the menu, a different revenue/A glorious change, refining the focus'. Things quickly pick up with the haunting and mesmerising Cruel when Complete and Rolling Upon my Day, a track that begins with busy rhythms and a wonderful guitar loop before mixing into a heavily echoed drum pattern and subtle vocals. Elsewhere, melodies and beats occasionally appear from under a barrage of mechanical noises and treated tapes.
Dome 2 continues experimentation with rhythm, noise and minimalism. It begins with the stunning Red Tent 1&2, which moves from quiet, soothing chords to a chaotic and harsh beat. An exhausted sounding Lewis vocal—'Quiet, the breath is crystal-clear/The red tent is our tomb'—adds to the claustrophobic feel. The narratives all seem to focus on the theme of exploration and loneliness, and the album seems more complete than Dome 1, ending with the chilling Keep it.
Dome certainly isn't easy listening but it was never meant to be. There is beauty within the noise and the harrowing narratives of Dome 2, along with the sheer variety of sound and noise in every piece, makes for an intriguing, interesting and disconcerting listening experience all at once.
Craig Grannell (1998)

Correct links for 3&4 (PT1 - PT2) Sorry...
Dome 3 is more musically structured than previous Dome work, often borrowing rhythms and sounds from other cultures and mixing them with abstract noise. The idea of cut-up vocals is taken to the extreme until all that's left is fragments of words, ramblings, nonsense and vocal noises. It begins well with the hypnotic rhythms of Jasz and Ar-Gu, but substance is sometimes lacking. Although there are standout tracks, such as Na-drm and the incredible Roos-an, this is probably the weakest of all the Dome LPs.
The final de-facto Dome release from the '80s—Will you Speak this Word: Dome 4—brings together the minimalism of earlier works and a more ethnic leaning. To Speak is built around the repetition of the words 'To sleep and let my words come round again,' backed by textured violins and saxophones that are arranged to give an almost Arabic feel. This evolves into a rhythmic mix of hard drumbeats and guitar that abruptly stops. The final part of the track offers tiny echoes of what appeared earlier in amongst slowly shifting and ghostly electronics.
The remainder of the album is made of much shorter tracks, most of which seem to highlight one of the ideas within To Speak. The best of these is This, which is a bizarre mix of shifting vocals and disjointed rhythms.
The suite-like To Speak would be worth the asking price alone. The rhythmical qualities of Roos-an rather overshadow the remainder of the sometimes-weak Dome 3, but this collection is still worthy of consideration.
Craig Grannell (1998)