Latin rock’s budding dynamo

Expectations ran high just before 16-year-old JD Natasha took the stage at JC Fandango in Anaheim on Thursday. Since the release of her debut album last summer, the high school student turned overnight star had been heralded as Miami’s bilingual wonder girl of Latin rock.

The singer-songwriter’s album, “Imperfecta/Imperfect,” was a favorite of hometown critics and industry insiders. On the cover, she’s pictured in a black goth outfit with teased hair and tons of makeup. On her website, she’s seen in front of an ominous medieval castle while lightning bolts make her body glow with voltage that doesn’t faze her.

What a surprise when out walked a lovely young woman wearing a shy smile, a fashionable but conservative green top and girlish curls flowing down her shoulders. A little flustered, she forgot to pick up her guitar on her way out and walked back to get it.

The performance also stumbled at first. For about half of the one-hour set, Natasha’s outstanding voice could barely be heard over the roar of her four-piece band. The amplified drone even made it hard to distinguish one of her strong songs from another, masking the distinctive melodies revealed on the album’s more acoustic, pop-style arrangements.

Eventually, the show picked up a charge, but it was the band that became the monster, especially Pepe Velazquez with some mean licks on electric lead guitar. With tight and powerful backup from Rob Torres on drums and Juan Luis Lopera on bass, the group whipped up a minor frenzy among the fans, most of them just minors themselves.

Natasha’s strength is her prodigious voice, which leaps octaves in a single phrase and exhibits subtleties beyond her tender years. The show’s relentless volume allowed only a glimpse of her fragile falsettos and emotional range, making you yearn for a solo interlude.

That complaint was pulverized by the climactic encore, a take-no-prisoners version of her bold “Plastico,” introduced as “my favorite song.” Although still somewhat uncertain and restrained onstage, Natasha proved she’ll be a force to reckon with when she gains more confidence and maturity.

Now that’s scary.