DIVINYLS : Upping the Ante on a Sensual Image

Given such steamy songs and videos as “I Touch Myself” and singer Christina Amphlett’s revealing attire and sultry poses, it’s understandable that the rock public thinks of the Australian group Divinyls as an act with a one-track mind.

Amphlett and her longtime partner Mark McEntee think that’s just fine.

“We wanted to make a sensual, sexual record,” Amphlett said of the group’s new album, “Divinyls,” sitting on the patio of a Hollywood recording studio recently.

On three previous albums Amphlett had established an aggressively sexual image, coming on as a bad-schoolgirl tease. This time she’s upped the ante both in maturity--she’s still a tease, but it’s all adult now--and intensity. The same can be said for McEntee’s slashing rock guitar style.

The record has also upped the group’s popularity. The three albums for Chrysalis Records never reached much more than an alternative, cult-sized audience in the United States, despite good reviews. The new album, the group’s first for Virgin Records, has broken through, with “I Touch Myself” reaching the Top 10 of the pop charts.

McEntee, whose dry wit and relentless puns made a sharp contrast to Amphlett’s loquaciousness, reflected drolly on the consequences of a one-dimensional image.

“I wouldn’t mind if the only dimension I could exist in was a sensual one,” he said, peeking out from under blond bangs. “It wouldn’t be a bad one.”

Amphlett laughed. “People say, ‘How do you feel being a sex symbol?’ ” she said. “I say, ‘Sexy.’ I’ve always been drawn to sex symbols like Karen Black in ‘Five Easy Pieces’ and Brigitte Bardot. There’s an edge to them, they inspire me.”