Mates of State wrapped up a short northeastern US tour on Sunday at the Bell House in Brooklyn, in front of a sold-out crowd.  Despite not having a new album to promote, and a nearly disastrous electric organ malfunction, the husband/wife duo of Kori Gardner (keyboards/vocals) and Jason Hammel (percussion/vocals) played a crowd-pleasing hour and a half set. In addition to  songs from their entire 10-year discography, the pair mixed in a few new tunes slated for their next album, which they are currently in the process of recording.

Among the highlights was a cameo by comedian/Brooklynite-about-town Eugene Mirman. Coming out before the Mates’ encore, Mirman was greeted with the usual mix of cheers from fans and who-the-heck-is-this heckling from others. After threatening to play an array of Jethro Tull songs on Gardner’s keyboard, Mirman remained on stage for the duration of the encore, and “played” the drums on a cover of Tom Waits’ “Took the Long Road Home.”  As is usual with Mirman in such appearances, he trod the fine line between entertaining and ruinous intrusion.

Mates of State, however, sounded great. Their harmonies were working, they had the crowd dancing, and they didn’t appear to have lost any vitality after a decade-long career that’s seen five records, one wedding, and two kids. Mates of State seem to function well as a band and a couple, and in a tongue-in-cheek nod to their seemingly blissful union, they ended a particularly sweet, everything-is-magical-and-wonderful duet with a simple, harmonized coda of “Unicorns!”