Last Thursday night, inside the historic and enigmatic walls of Turner Hall Ballroom, the Heartless Bastards performed for a sizeable sit-and-stand audience. The Austin-based band coupled well with the vintage beauty of the venue and performed emotion-laden grunge rock hits that told a story of love, loss and the journey between the two.

Erika Wennerstrom — vocals, piano and guitar — opened the set with “Came a Long Way,” a testimonial-type rock ballad that showed off her signature sound and set the tone of the concert.

Wennerstrom’s soul-stirring vocals, such as “Oh, it’s those little things that eat at your soul, and I’m not gonna worry about them no more,” are what make the Heartless Bastards’ sound so memorable and provoking.

The four-piece band first convened in 2003. Since then, the Heartless Bastards, with varying band members, have put out four records, “Stairs and Elevators” (2005), “All This Time” (2006) and “The Mountain” (2009). Their fourth, “Arrow,” was released with Partisan Records on Tuesday, Feb. 14.

For Thursday’s performance, a friend of the band harmonized with Wennerstrom and accompanied Mark Nathan on guitar, Dave Colvin on drums and Jesse Ebaugh on bass.

The set moved seamlessly between old favorites and new hits from “Arrow.” Wennerstrom was also moving — from her electric guitar to a sunburst acoustic and electric keyboard.  I couldn’t help but compare her voice to a blues-infused Lady Gaga singing “Speechless” with a country beat. It was a good thing — and Wennerstrom’s bleach blond, jagged-cut hair looked the part, too.

I was most struck by “Parted Ways,” the second track in their new album, and, dare I say, the cream filling to the night’s performance. The song’s psychedelic yet chipper rock beat seemed to best represent the Heartless Bastards. As Wennerstrom sang about “wide open space … through the atmosphere, and the air is filled with dust,” the forty-something-year-olds and college-aged kids moved like waves — or should I say tumbleweeds.

And in Turner Hall, it sounded even better. That was probably the best part of the night — seeing the Heartless Bastards play in a venue so similar to them.  Much like the venue, the band has a timeless flair that is suitable for all audiences.

You couldn’t help but explore your mind’s chasm as Wennerstrom whined, “I just don’t look and think the same way now since we’ve parted ways.” The storytelling-like quality of this new track from “Arrow” invited the audience members to contemplate their own journey: where they’ve been and where they are going.

After the song, Wennerstrom said she appreciated the preservation of historic venues like Turner Hall. She admitted the band had been hanging out at Cudahy’s Irish Pub, inside the Pabst Theater (another historic venue) prior to the show.

So long as Milwaukee maintains venues like Turner Hall, it’s appropriate to say that the Heartless Bastards have preserved their spot in Milwaukee’s music scene. Now that’s a lasting impression.