Jesse Jo Stark manufactures a ton of shadowy atmosphere in the torrid songs on her recent EP, Dandelion. “Spreading like a tropical disease, hanging in my haunted summer breeze/Yeah, all the girls are skeletons/They want to jump your bones,” the L.A. singer purrs dismissively on “Love Is in the Air,” her words wrapped in a haze of ’60s psychedelic-pop keyboards and dark guitar chords. Stark switches gears on “Breakfast With Lou,” an unexpectedly breezy pop fantasy about wanting to hang out with the famously curmudgeonly leader of The Velvet Underground. Similarly, she romanticizes airily about a seedy Manhattan landmark with “Chelsea Hotel,” belying its tangled and bloody history with a cheery melody. Stark returns to her funereal intensity on the echo-spangled dream-pop ballad “Monster Man.”

Jesse Jo Stark at the Hi Hat, 5043 York Blvd., Highland Park; Thu., Feb. 14, 8 p.m.; free. (323) 258-4427.

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