Vocalist/guitarist Oak Alger has been an important lynchpin in the PDX Pop Now! family since his wee teen years. He returns this year not as a committee member, but with his excellently jangly pop group Vanity Project. The trio’s debut EP, VP, is a chameleonic lo-fi scorcher, replete with deft songwriting and enough garage-pop juju to lull you into ultimate fandom. RJP