From the moment she hooked up with fellow Maritime expatriate Sarah McLachlan, singer-songwriter Tara MacLean knew she had found someone to bond with.

Both women grew up in the Maritimes (MacLean's a Charlottetown native, McLachlan's from Halifax). And both have record deals with Vancouver's Nettwerk label.

Inevitable comparisons

Of course, MacLean says her broody music and introspective lyrics from her 1997 debut Silence also prompted the inevitable likening to McLachlan's work.

"When you're starting out, people need to label you and put you into a little category," the 26-year-old MacLean said over the phone from her Los Angeles home.

"As for the comparisons to Sarah -- which I used to get, I asked her about it and she said to me, 'Hey, I used to get compared to Kate Bush all the time!' That's just the way it is."

"But I don't get that anymore."

With her follow-up CD Passenger, plus her recent marriage to former Tom Cochrane sideman Bill Bell and a new U.S. deal with Capitol Records, MacLean is determined to trod her own path as a songstress.

"It seems so easy now/Everything I dreamed about when I was a child," she sings on the lead-off single If I Fall. "It looks like a good place here/So I think I'll stay for a while."

MacLean busked her way into Nettwerk's hearts four years ago when label executives heard her sing Let Her Feel the Rain aboard a B.C. ferry.

The song found its way onto a Nettwerk compilation and ultimately earned her a contract with the label.

Following her 1995 debut, Silence, MacLean toured incessantly across North America, opening for the likes of Ashley MacIsaac, Paula Cole, the Barenaked Ladies, the Cure, Garbage and Lisa Loeb.

Lilith Fair

Of course, MacLean considers her stints on all three Lilith Fair tours -- sharing the stage with none other than her friend McLachlan -- a highlight.

"I'm just on stage with these women, who are all so spectacular," she says. "And they're all smiling back at me.

"I'm thinking, 'My life rocks.' Does it get better than this?"

MacLean will be in town today at 2:30 p.m. to perform and sign autographs as part of HMV's new Merivale Place Plaza location, 1651 Merivale Rd.

Tomorrow, local sensation Tammy RayBould takes the stage at 1, 2:30 and 4:30 p.m.