“I like it when we play with bands that sound different than us,” said Mutual Benefit frontman Jordan Lee to a sold out crowd at the Black Cat’s Backstage, referring to D.C. opener Teen Mom. “Because sometimes we’ll play with a band that’s doing what we do, and they’re doing it better.”

It’s hard to imagine a band superseding the current iteration of Lee’s Mutual Benefit, currently touring as a six-piece. For all their cohesion, you’d think they’d been playing together for years. The band walks the tightrope of seasoned musicians comfortable in their most ambitious melodies, and the spontaneous combustion that comes from disparate artists coming together to try something new.

The band’s debut, Love’s Crushing Diamond, was written and recorded over two years between Boston and Austin. Yet it retains that sparkling quality of apocryphal “bedroom recording” debut albums like Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago or Washed Out’s Life of Leisure. It wouldn’t be surprising if Diamond reached the same levels of saturation as those albums; it’s delicate melodies and poetic lyrics have the potential to spread like wildfire.

Mutual Benefit opened with the strongest track from Diamond, “Golden Wake,”, which showcases Lee’s dual vocals with his sister Whitney, as well as the group’s exceptional ability to build what could be a quick chamber pop missive into something with greater permanence. Violinist Jake Falby lent an ethereal quality to the night on songs like “That Light That’s Blinding,” and Dillon Zahner, brought the delicate, controlled percussion necessary for songs like the hopeful “Strong Swimmer.”

Opener Teen Mom brought the solid rock you’d hope to hear from this local trio. They’ve been playing more and more around D.C. lately and it shows; they’ve grown tighter as a band and Chris Kelly has become more confident in his vocal presence. We can expect to hear more from both bands in the coming year; it’s hard to keep talent like this a secret for long.