“[Songwriting] is cheaper than therapy,” wrote Dala, a GTA-born singer-songwriter duo comprised of Sheila Carabine and Amanda Walther. “Everybody has different ways of dealing with their private, personal challenges. For us, songwriting is the thing that brings clarity to our lives.”

It's a talent they've been honing for years. With their fourth album, Everyone is Someone, recently released on Campus Records, Walther and Carabine are now in a frenzy of touring to promote it. Canada's folk-pop darlings will be performing at Aeolian Hall on Friday December 4 before heading out on a short cross-Canada tour with Chantal Kreviazuk.

And while their home country is still the most important of Dala's pursuits, 2009 marked their first American tour, full of amazing experiences for the two-girls-with-acoustic-guitars band. They were invited to perform at the Newport Folk Festival's 50th anniversary in Newport, Rhode Island. The festival, notorious for Bob Dylan's first electric concert, featured an array of American acts this year, from veterans Joan Baez and Pete Seeger to indie rockers Fleet Foxes. Dala were the only Canadians invited.

“Being the only Canadian act on the bill...was such an honour,” said Carabine. “Given the incredible line-up of artists, it felt a bit like the musical olympics. Amanda and I were the only ones on team Canada, and we did our best to represent our country well.”

And though Carabine is a proud Canadian, her own cultural heritage has shaped her both in person and song. A daughter of two first-generation Irish immigrants, Carabine “grew up in a house filled with music and storytelling.”

But in terms of the Irish musical sensibility, Carabine said, “My mom likes to say about the Irish: ‘All their wars are merry, and their songs are sad.' I think I have been seriously influenced by the melancholy and the nostalgia that is woven through so much of Irish culture, and it comes out in my songwriting.”

Perhaps nostalgic is the best way to describe the band's more sombre songs, like Horses, and Don't Believe the Actress, from the duo's previous album, Who Do You Think You Are?

Dala says there's an irony to writing such songs, too, in that “being on the road definitely perpetuates the sense of isolation that made us write songs in the first place.”

Still, their melancholic writing bears an inherent sense of optimism, instilled by Carabine and Walther. Onstage, that feeling is most obvious through their personalities - smiling, telling jokes and most importantly, singing together, as old friends. And it's Dala's vocal stylings which have made them the object of much regard. Carabine and Walther trade off melodies, and sing both in unison and harmony with ease, something they learned from an early age.

“We both grew up going to church with our families, and so singing hymns certainly trained our ears,” said the girls. But applying the same theory to pop and folk music is not always quite so successful, and Dala have seemingly stumbled upon the recipe for beautiful folk-pop, ornamented with the voices of two.

Now, having received a warm reception in the United States, Dala have been experiencing a great deal of success, which means, for one thing, more touring. And though there are things from home Dala will miss, traveling and playing isn't something the girls want to give up just yet. “We spend a lot of time away from our families and loved ones, but they have been nothing but supportive of our dreams. The key is to send lots of letters and emails home so they don't forget about us!”

Dala will perform at Aeolian Hall on December 4 with Adam Crossley. Tickets are $17 in advance, $22 at the door.