Just last year, Sheila Carabine was at the St. George campus studying religion and English as a second-year undergrad student, just hanging out eating lunch in the Arbour Room at Hart House.

She’ll be back at the Arbour Room again tonight, but this time she’ll be on stage with her high school pal Amanda Walther, belting out songs from their debut CD Angels & Thieves.

“I used to be quiet in most of my classes so [my classmates] would have no idea that I did music. It’s always kind of funny when you run into people who are like, ‘Whoa, out-of-context meeting,'” says the 21-year-old, who has since put her studies on hold.

Carabine and Walther’s musical duo, called Dala-a combination of the last letters from both their first names-just signed to Universal Music Canada last month, only three short years after deciding to pursue music together.

Dala’s music career sprouted after writing a song together on a whim. They’d been hanging out with a mutual friend at Walther’s place in North York one evening and decided to write a song about their friend’s journey home after he left.

“It was about Paul taking the bus home,” Carabine explains. “It came so naturally. I remember being the most excited I’d ever been in my whole life, having created something out of thin air with someone who I was such good friends with. It was so thrilling that I was like, ‘We have to write a hundred songs.'”

“Our friendship comes first and then the music is built on top of that so that we give each other the courage to do this scary thing,” Walther, 23, says.

Both their musically-inclined families have been encouraging. Most of their friends are also musicians, so they feel especially lucky to have gotten a major-label deal this soon.

“We know all about the struggles, playing at places along Queen St. We feel really grateful, and we are going to work very hard,” Carabine says.

“It’s amazing. The response has been so positive that it’s led us to continue. We really couldn’t have gotten to this point without the support of all our friends and family,” Walther points out.

About half the songs on Angels & Thieves are originals written by the duo, loosely based on their life experiences.

Catchy single “20-Something,” set to catapult them onto the airwaves in the new year, explores the uncertainty of early adulthood. Their folk-pop music is mellow, easy listening with Nelly Furtado-meets-Chantal Kreviazuk harmony vocals.

“Where Have all the Boys Gone?” (or “the poker song,” as they like to call it) is a whimsical tune with a nice play on words: “Take your spade out of my heart,” and “You said I was your queen/But you traded me in for a straight flush to win.”

The song came about when all their male friends kept ditching them on Friday nights for a whole year to play poker with the guys.

“They never invited us, so we got a little bitter and decided to write a song about it,” Walther says.

“Now we’re never invited (to poker),” Carabine chimes in, laughing. “If they were thinking about it before, now it’s out of the question.”

The album also features covers of songs by Neil Young, Donovan, and Louis Armstrong, among others. Though their music is in a folkier vein, Dala’s musical influences span a wide range, including Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel, and Led Zeppelin.

The duo have been honing their live performance, appearing at several folk festivals this summer. Following their campus show, they’re about to play their highest-profile gig to date: opening for one of Jann Arden’s five sold-out shows at Massey Hall in November.

“We play a lot of songs at the live shows, so you really get a true sense of the variety of our music, as opposed to just the recordings,” Walther notes.

Carabine hopes to see some of her former classmates at the Arbour Room gig tonight.

“We love performing live, and people have a great time,” she enthuses.

Dala play the Arbour Room at Hart House (7 Hart House Circle) tonight (Oct. 20) at 9:30 pm.