Kevin Bronson on September 2nd, 2016

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As an author, journalist and historian, Ken Sharp has chronicled the exploits of a generation’s worth of musical heroes, including the Beatles, Elvis, KISS, Cheap Trick, the Raspberries, the Wrecking Crew, Small Faces and myriad others whom writers huddle under the creaky umbrella known as power-pop. Sharp has engaged in his fair share of hooky heroics himself, releasing three albums between 1995 and 2007 — the latter, the widely applauded “Sonic Crayons,” cementing his place as a torchbearer in the sometimes-nerdy circles where “power-pop” is not a pejorative.

Sharp’s fourth album “New Mourning” arrived today, nine years (and eight books) later, in an era power-pop has regained its shine, owing to retroists such as the Burger/Lolipop Records gang having scuffed it up and called it garage-rock. In fact, it’s not hard to imagine “New Mourning” becoming a cassette sensation if Sharp were a bearded kid from Echo Park and he and co-producer/collaborator Fernando Perdomo had been more slapdash in the studio. Instead, the album has the squeaky-clean sonics of ’70s majordomos and, to a degree, others who followed, such as Matthew Sweet, Jellyfish, Brendan Benson and Tommy Keene. Besides Perdomo — who in July released his own solo album “Voyeurs” — “New Mourning” features contributions from Rick Springfield (on “Satellite” and “Burn & Crash”), Prescott Niles of the Knack, Wally Stocker of the Babys and Ron Bonfiglio.

For all the album’s melodic sugar and vocal frosting, though, it’s essential a song cycle about a break-up — “the feel-bad album of the year, but in a good way,” Sharp says, quoting Perdomo’s description. Indeed, that duality prevails: “Burn & Crash” is a sad-sack anthem you clap your hands to; the boyish balladeer in Sharp shines on “L.A. Can Be Such a Lonely Town;” and regret sounds downright picturesque on “I Should Have Known.” And while you’ve heard the sentiments in “Let’s Be Friends” a million times, the harmony- and synth-drenched burst joins a canon of moving-on ditties that try to make a new day of mourning.

||| Stream: “New Mourning”

||| Live: Ken Sharp plays the Troubadour tonight, along with Them Guns, National Anthem, Daisy and Magi5.