5EPs
5EPs is an anthology of five extended play albums released by American indie rock band Dirty Projectors throughout 2020. The first four EPs each feature a different band member as lead vocalist: Windows Open, Flight Tower, Super João, Earth Crisis. The full band sings on the final EP, Ring Road.
Promotion and release
Dirty Projectors released a video for "Overlord" in February 2020, their first new music since 2018, when the band's lineup changed. "Overlord" would later appear on Windows Open, the band's first EP in the five-EP series, released on March 27, 2020. "Search for Life", another track on the EP, was released a few days prior to the album.The band performed "Lose Your Love" on the late-night comedy show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee in mid-2020.
For the fifth EP, Ring Road, the band released a video for "My Possession".
Domino released the five EPs as the anthology 5EPs on November 20, 2020, as both a double vinyl LP record and a five-disc deluxe box set.
| EP | Release date | Lead vocalist |
| Windows Open | March 27, 2020 | Maia Friedman |
| Flight Tower | June 25, 2020 | Felicia Douglass |
| Super João | September 4, 2020 | David Longstreth |
| Earth Crisis | October 1, 2020 | Kristin Slipp |
| Ring Road | November 20, 2020 |
Reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 75, based on 7 reviews.Mark Deming of AllMusic wrote, "Some listeners may prefer to only focus on one or two chapters in this series, but 5EPS confirms that all of them make the grade, individually and collectively." Kaelen Bell of Exclaim wrote, "In allowing others back into the fray and stripping their sound, Longstreth has once again tapped into what made the band so engrossing in the first place. 5EPs feels like a restart, a long and considered exhale." Max Freedman of Paste wrote, "5EPs is the first time this seemingly interminable project has felt completely approachable, rather than yet another informational overload in this swirling year. And though it highlights each performer’s unique strengths, it sometimes obscures the new members’ talents under tried-and-true Dirty Projectors sounds."