" 80s synth stuff and disappointing backing vocals"

At the risk of -20 downvotes, I was going to say the same thing.

The synths I can handle.

But the backing vocals ... my god man ... I don't know whether to laugh or cry. It's beyond kitsch.

You gotta take it as a 'package'.

I find that people who are more lyrical tend to like him. Musical people less so.

Often the chords make no sense, they go back and forth, there's no progression - but then you realize they are following the cadence of his prose, and then it kind of makes sense.

He's almost like a beat poet - where there's some 'muzak' in the background.