This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Everly Jazi.

Before other musicians joined Jordan Lee on stage, Mutual Benefit started as a solo project with a second-hand karaoke machine.

But last Saturday, the collaborative project, known for its heavy use of string instruments like violins and guitars, opened for indie-rockers Wild Beasts and played for a full house at the 9:30 Club.

The band’s performance struck the same melodic outline as the album tracks, but with several recording group members skipping the tour, improvisation from the artists on stage filled the gaps.

After collaborating with many musicians, Mutual Benefit has a consistent lineup for this tour that performs well together.

Lee, whose first breakout success came last fall, started Mutual Benefit in 2009 with the eerie “Figure in Black” EP.

“At first, it was just a solo recording project,” Lee said. “I was playing in a rock band in Texas and I wanted to have an outlet for other kinds of music, and I went to the thrift store and I bought a broken karaoke machine that recorded right on to a cassette player.”

He said the musicians he works with now “occupy some position in between” touring members and bandmates. A couple of members on tour contributed to “Love’s Crushing Diamond,” but Lee said he doesn’t know who he wants to have on the next record.

“I guess for better or for worse, it’s a flexible thing. But I’ve really, really been enjoying playing with this lineup,” he said.

After headlining a sold-out show at the Black Cat in February, Mutual Benefit played for a mixed crowd during its opening performance at the 9:30 Club. As they set up, the bandmates joked that they had convinced the U.K.-based Wild Beasts that they were a big deal in the U.S.

Tours with big crowds are a new experience for the band. Lee, who spent the last two years playing house shows, said he was nervous before his performance at the 1,200-capacity 9:30 Club, even after he recently had higher-profile exposure on popular radio shows.

“Even being on KEXP or even playing a venue like the Independent in San Francisco that I’ve always wanted to play, but then seeing what it’s like on the back end and talking to the hospitality guys and stuff like that, it just kind of makes everything less magical than how you hoped it would be,” Lee said.

As the heavy drum ending of “Advanced Falconry” gave new life to a normally softer sound, the crowd pulsed with the rhythm. Even the Wild Beast fans, who did not seem to jive with the opener, swayed a little.

Lee has only written a couple of songs since the album, but hopes to record his next project in the Columbus Theatre recording studio in Rhode Island.