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It’s unclear whether State Bird moved many copies of Mostly Ghostly, released February 26 on the Kansas City-based label Record Machine, but the two dozen or so spectators standing near the stage appeared to know the words to most songs, suggesting they’ve already purchased the album, which would make a punitive scene execution seem rather unwarranted. For the one-song unplugged encore “Ghost King, Pt. 2,” State Bird welcomed these fans onto the stage, where they smiled, clapped and sang along.

It was a warm welcome for the Dover, Ohio-based outfit, whose performance justified the enthusiastic reception. A songwriting duo (vocalist/guitarist Cody Hartzler and vocalist/keyboardist Jared Riblet) with a revolving-door rhythm section, State Bird executes musical feats that carry a high degree of difficulty for indie-rock bands. During Friday night’s show, the band incorporated heavy doses of funk (shimmering guitar, “Low Rider” percussion, falsetto vocals) and ended a tune with a drum circle (after bongos were surreptitiously placed next to the non-percussionist members). They high-fived each other on stage, whistled loudly, and described an accordion-abetted reggae-polka number as an adaptation of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” In the hands of lesser instrumentalists or less endearing personalities, this aggressive eclectism could have been off-putting. State Bird turned it into a warmly entertaining self-contained variety show.

The Belles bear compositional similarities to State Bird, supplementing the core duo (singer/guitarist Tolle and drummer Jake Cardwell) with a rotating cast of contributors. This gig, the band’s first in six months, marked the debut of Mike Alexander (formerly of the Architects) on lead guitar, where he played some sharp electric solos and even strummed out an acoustic Smiths snippet. Long a power-pop institution, the Belles have started morphing into a Wilco-style amalgamation of casually engaging country-tinged hooks and mildly psychedelic experimentation. The group ended a few tunes with concise yet intense instrumental crescendos, and its current incarnation seems capable of extending those passages into full-fledged jams without losing melodic momentum.

Occasional Belles contributor Kirsten Paludan opened with an abridged set, playing for less than twenty minutes because of a singing voice wearied by a week of recording with Olympic Size. While her voice might have lacked stamina, it wasn’t wanting for strength, as she covered her usual spectrum of husky cooing and graceful upper-octave belting. Accompanied by guitarist Wade Williamson and a recorded drum track, which she cued manually before each selection, Paludan alternated between guitar (during songs characterized by hard jangles and a desert twang) and keyboard (during tunes that had a much different dynamic, lush and dramatic in the Fiona Apple vein.)