Following the critical accolades for Sparks’ previous album, Lil’ Beethoven, the brothers Mael continued expressing their rock-centric selves with a new variety of sounds and instruments. A fuller band on Hello Young Lovers gives new heft to what might have been slighter creations, such as “Perfume,” which wafts the sophisticated scent of seduction on anxious piano riffs and slinky guitars, and “Here Kitty” with its jazz-meets-gospel vocal interplay. Guitarists Dean Menta of Faith No More and Jim Wilson of the Rollins Band, bassist Steve MacDonald of Redd Kross, and drummer Tammy Glover join the duo here, and the result is more than impressive. You won’t find a lot of rock crescendos or big drum rolls here; much of the album is built on repetition, both lyrically and in looping bits of instrumentation. “Chicks dig, dig... metaphors” is chanted with solid gravitas (making it all the sillier), and looped acoustic guitar flurries and fluttering strings accompany Mael’s version of the national anthem on “(Baby Baby) Can I Invade Your Country.” “Waterproof” is a fine showcase for his amazing vocals, and the song’s coda brings a dramatic end to swirling strings, guitars, and Mael’s cool expression of emotional denial. A shamefully overlooked album.