THERE are dog years and then there are Handsome Family years. "It's amazing we're still going," says Rennie Sparks, one half of the gothic Americana duo from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who play Leeds Brudenell Social Club on Monday night.

"In musician years, we're 200 years old. It's not an easy life!" In reality Rennie and Brett Sparks have been married for 26 years and have made music together for almost as long.

"At this point, there are no other skills we have," says Rennie, reckoning that's as good a reason as any to keep going. Maybe so, but The Handsome Family have had a heightened profile ever since the 2014 television series True Detective picked their song Far From Any Road for its opening credits, fully 12 years after Mr and Mrs Sparks wrote it. Tonight's show has long sold out.

Rennie and Brett don't take their musical chemistry for granted. "When we get it right, we take pleasure in that, though it could always unravel every day, but usually we pull the strings back together, and it does help that we love each other," says Rennie.

"But it doesn't get easier writing songs: you put yourself at risk of repeating things, so you have to lower your bucket deeper down the well than you ever thought it could go."

What might Rennie find all the way down? "Some people see songs as dark or light, but I think we should see all the colour spectrum down there," she says. "If you just want happy songs, it can't save you from unhappiness. I have always felt distant from such people as the things that make life hard are the things that define us," she says.

The Handsome Family have a dozen albums to their name, the latest being last year's Unseen, and their songs have been covered by the likes of Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Cerys Matthews, Christy Moore and Andrew Bird, who released an entire record of Handsome numbers, no less.

Like Bird for his covers' record, Rennie and Brett must cherry pick a selection for each tour and then "stick with that bunch". "You can't dip into the same river twice, so we don't get tired of playing a song again and again as it's always an exciting experience with different people around you, and our shows really have a carnival feeling to them."

Rennie, on banjo, bass and vocals, and Brett, on baritone vocals and guitar, are joined on tour by their regular travelling companion, drummer Jason Toth, and a new face to British audiences, Alex McMahon. "He's a young guy we found in Albuquerque – it's a small town! – who plays pedal steel, keyboards and whatever else we might throw at him; he's really talented," says Rennie. "He played with us in America and it's great to have him with us on our European trip."

The Handsome Family play Leeds Brudenell Social Club on Monday, supported by Courtney Marie Andrews; doors open at 7.30pm. Sold out.