Gary Barlow feels he was one of the lucky ones in lockdown because it felt no different to making an album. And that’s when the singer-songwriter and Take That frontman is in his element. “I’ve literally just sat and made music throughout the whole thing,” he tells Apple Music. As 2020 went sideways in March, he was putting the finishing touches on his solo record Music Played by Humans. “We were mixing at that point,” he says. Since then, he’s done lots of TV and film music, too. “I’ve worked right throughout the whole thing and I’ve loved it. I’ve actually loved the peace.” The album is expansive and bombastic, often utilising a large orchestra in its songs, but Barlow relished the opportunity to perform something a little more stripped-back for his Apple Music Home Session. He has retooled recent single “Incredible” down to its bare bones, settling on a sound that is reminiscent of its original form. “‘Incredible’ is a real simple song. We had drums, bass and piano and we did a Ronnie Scott’s version,” he says. “It’s kind of how I wrote it to start with, then it took on this energy, which is brilliant, but it can be done in that sort of loungey way too. I love to sing like that.” Getting into the Christmas spirit, his second track is the festive standard “In The Bleak Midwinter”. Barlow says he’s drawn to sad Christmas songs, the tracks that tap into the cold weather and dark nights. “‘In The Bleak Midwinter’ feels like a hymn to me,” he says. “For some reason, it feels really religious. It just moves me. I really love it.”