There's more than one person inside Sarah Slean.

The singer and pianist's artistic alter egos include Cookie, a crime photographer, and Emily, an old French woman from the early 1900s who works at a hat shop and drinks too much.

"You can't be everybody all at once, you only have one lifetime, and if you scatter yourself you can't be good at anything, so I choose to sort of fracture myself, so they can all run off and do their thing so I can remain some semblance of Sarah," Slean, 24, says.

All of the sides of Slean's character come out on her major label debut album Night Bugs, which she wrote, produced and arranged with equally flamboyant singer-songwriter Hawksley Workman.

The Pickering, Ont., resident studied classical piano at York University after high school, but dropped out after one year because she didn't feel fulfilled playing other people's music.

"I enjoy classical music immensely, but I found performing it fruitless," says Slean, who will presumably be more satisfied performing her own material Tuesday night at the West End Cultural Centre.

After a year at the University of Toronto she quit to focus on music full time, eventually landing a deal with Atlantic Records in 1998. But she wasn't ready to release a major label album then, so she put out an independent "grace record," allowing her to get her hands dirty learning how to be a producer. "I can't relinquish production, I'm too much of a control freak," she says.

Slean can currently be seen dancing around in a red dress on the video for her first single, Sweet Ones, which has been getting plenty of airplay on MuchMoreMusic and radio.

Besides her talents as a musician, Slean is also an accomplished artist who paints with acrylic and thick glazes. Some of her work can be seen in her CD and on her Web site at www.sarahslean.com. Tickets are $10 in advance at Ticketmaster and the West End or $13 at the door.