I was listening to some classic 80s stuff on the radio yesterday and some of my favourites had synths actually driving the tracks. I would love to have a retro 80s album. Very in-vogue right now and Mr. K has always been cool.
MK certainly is cool in the more literal sense of the word (in a JJ Cale, "Sixblade-Knife" kind of style, you know what I mean). He totally isn't and never has been cool in the sense of being "en vogue". It's true that retro 80s sounds are currently en vogue, and can be cool in that sense, but MK, let alone GF, are the least likely people to create a cool-sounding retro record. There's a fine line between doing retro ironically (which can work) and doing it in all seriousness. The latter is the opposite of cool.
That said, I don't think this is something they would even consider. They'll just use the synths to create "atmosphere", like they did in the past, in songs like "The Dream of the Drowned Submariner". I don't think Mark's songs need that treatment (as he proved with Shangri-La), but I've learned to live with it.