Photograph: Laura Kunkel

Public Assembly; Thu 20

For more than a decade, Michael Grace Jr. led the local cult pop band My Favorite. The group of former high-school and college comrades created, over the course of two albums, an autobiographical soundtrack of a sort of indie never-never-land filled with epic, new-wave–flavored tales of monsters and saints. Grace’s long romantic relationship with singer-muse Andrea Vaughn ended in 2001, triggering the protracted dissolution of the band, which took its last breath in 2005.

After Vaughn’s departure, the musicians drafted a want ad seeking a “female singer/tragic cult figure.” Lisa Ronson, an operatically trained vocalist who also happened to be the daughter of legendary Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson, responded. She proved to be a quick study in the ways of rock, and inspired Grace & Co. to reimagine their songbook with an ear for ’70s glam; an infatuation with ’60s girl groups precipitated the addition of Erin Dermody to sing harmonies, solidifying the newly renamed group’s lineup.

On the Secret History’s debut EP, Desolation Town (Le Grand Magistery), the septet swaggers and shouts triumphantly through the trenches of Grace’s lifelong war against silence. In the sooty disco of “It’s Not the End of the World, Jonah,” Ronson advises listeners to “hang your tears from chandeliers,” while stomper “Mark & John” is an exultant battle cry drenched in power chords and psychedelia. Live, watch as Ronson’s gravitas focuses the band’s tunes into bona fide anthems.