What is "Stereotomy" by The Alan Parsons Project about?

Question

So I read the lyrics to Stereotomy by The Alan Parsons Project, and what they mean is extremely ambiguous. Is he talking to a love interest? Is he talking about mental torment? Who knows?

Here are the non-repeating stanzas for your convenience:

Diamond eyes
That burn me and turn me to stone
Crystalise
And freeze me in clear monochrome

Turn me to stone; do anything you want with me
Turn me to stone; do anything you want
Stereotomy
We can make it together
Do anything you want with me
Do anything you want

Scarlet minds
Possess me and I feel no shame
Silent knives
Dissect me and I feel no pain

Starlight beams
Project me in red blue and green
Velvet dreams
Protect me when I hit the screen

Turn me to stone
Do anything you want with me
Cover my eyes
There's nothing more they need to see
Turn me to stone
Before there's nothing left of me
Make me a rock
And not what I appear to be
Turn me to stone

Obviously, on the surface, it would seem as though it's just a patient undergoing some mental therapy involving stereotomy, and is being tormented by it emotionally. However, elements like "diamond eyes" and "we can make it together" seem to suggest that he might be addressing the song to a love interest.

What do you think this song is actually about?

Answer 1

Stereotomy is

the art or technique of cutting solids (as into arches); especially : the art of stonecutting

Answer 2

Although the word ‘stereotomy’ literally means “the art and science of cutting three-dimensional solids [typically stone] into particular shapes”, in the album it's used as a metaphor for the effects of fame and celebrity, for the unforgiving way that media interest can ‘lay bare’ and ‘cut open’ people's lives, and how they can be ‘shaped’ by the public attention.

For example, “freeze me in clear monochrome” could refer to black-and-white photos in newspapers and other print media, and “Starlight beams Project me in red blue and green […] when I hit the screen” is reminiscent of movie or television broadcasting — the combined effect of which could make the subject feel as if they are being ‘burned’, ‘possessed’, or ‘dissected’.

(Similar themes are explored in the songs ‘Limelight’, ‘In The Real World’, and ‘Light Of The World’ on the same album.)

The word is taken from Edgar Allen Poe's The Murders In The Rue Morgue (there used in its literal sense) — yet another track from the album, ‘Chinese Whispers’, includes a related quote from that story.  Apparently Eric Woolfson thought that the word had quite a rock'n'roll sound.

(The band's interest in Poe goes right back to their very first album, Tales Of Mystery And Imagination, and continued in Eric's albums and shows Freudiana and Poe.)