Just as Siouxsie could carry any melody and turn it into a song with credence and bite, Nicholls’ vocals bear the weight of keeping Sugarsmack’s Tank Top City from any label of being just another album from a punk band with a cute girl singer.

And for the most part she does. Nicholls gives listeners a good sense of love-aching on Josephine without sounding like she’s whining as most princesses of the punk microphone do.

The sting of Nicholls’ delivery is felt on the biting Julia and its swaying guitar attack. Her sing/speak vocals on Carter is interesting to say the least as she takes on the role of a local in her hometown of Charlotte, N.C., telling the story of a wandering drifter.

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When Sugarsmack breaks out the acoustic guitars on Stinky, it does it without sounding as if the band’s forcing a ballad just to have a slow song. Instead, Nicholls takes the opportunity to spurn love rather than embrace it.

Tank Top City is a strong album, filled with enough punk and pop to saturate any stripped-down punk music thirst.