The Handsome Family, Old Market, Hove

The husband-and-wife duo Brett and Rennie Sparks's stock may have risen since Greil Marcus proclaimed them "The Beatles of the folk world", but they are not above setting up their own instruments. With the lights still up, Rennie, a black-clad acid casualty with a sublime way with words, arranges her battered autoharp (from which she claims to hear voices) while Brett, a 200lb Texan who once tried to write his own Bible, searches high and low for his missing harmonica (it is in the shopping bag by the drum kit).

If you have yet to be converted to the deliciously bleak and antique-sounding world that is The Handsome Family experience, then go and see them live. Part gothic horror, part situation comedy, their performance is not so much a gig as a sparring match set to music. Along with the bickering, however, you will hear music that will touch your soul.

There is no irony intended in their macabre and mystical homage to the roots of American folk. Rhinestones and hats may not be Brett and Rennie's style but country music is in their blood. Introducing a series of songs from their wonderful sixth album Singing Bones, Rennie advises us: "If you don't like 'em, you can send me a dead bird in the mail."

From "The Bottomless Hole", in which a man falls to the centre of the earth after climbing down a hole in his back yard, to "24 Hour Store" - where mall rats "push their squeaking carts/ Down the rows of clothes" unaware of the "singing bones" and "crying ghosts" - these are songs of darkness and beauty.

In between Rennie's cheery reflections on the therapeutic properties of cans of dog food ("I don't have dogs, I just like the pictures") and the wonders of post-Armageddon Disneyland, it is left to Brett's soulful baritone to give shape and meaning to her lyrics: "There once was a poodle who thought he was a cowboy..."

Their set also draws on older tracks that have already become classics. It ranges from "The Giant of Illinois", who died from a blister on his toe, to "The Woman Downstairs", the story of a neglected neighbour who starves herself to death. Then there's the mesmeric "Weightless Again", their ode to suicide recently covered by Cerys Matthews.

What the Handsome's lack in technical proficiency - their clunky drum machine is still only sporadically replaced by Brett's brother, Darrell - they make up for with heart. Rennie cradles her harp like a new-born kitten, while Brett sings with a warmth and despair that could make military leaders weep.

With their gorgeous ruminations on love, death, drink, blood and snow, The Handsome Family are masters of a dark art that it would be foolish to resist.