Mary Timony’s Ren-Faire grunge shtick has always looked effortless. Since she came into her own with Helium in the mid-90s and through a number of incarnations of the Mary Timony Band since, she has documented her travels through a Xanax-tinged Xanadu, weaving dark power pop and magical narratives. It’s only when she shares the stage that it’s apparent how much work it takes to sound so indifferent.

After a burnout period following some struggles on the road as a solo act, Timony gave music another go early last year with a new band: Pow-Wow, featuring her boyfriend, Jonah Takagi, and best friend and multi-instrumentalist Winston Yu. That name wouldn’t last — another band had already claimed Pow-Wow — so when the group added T.J. Lipple to replace early drummer Darren Zentek, they changed their handle to Soft Power.

In many respects, the band that played the Black Cat back stage on Thursday could have been any of her groups over the years. Soft Power’s “Izabella” follows the familiar path: enchanting verses alternating with barely threatening guitar phrases that resolve in blissful dark-pop choruses. But Soft Power also adds to that formula. Timony shares song-writing credits with Takagi and Yu. She also shares vocal duties with Takagi — and on this point, Soft Power wanes.