Archibald

Archibald is the debut full-length studio album by South African-American singer and former actor Travis Horn. The album was released on March 17, 2014 and was self-released by Horn with no label support. With most songs written and produced by Horn himself, some of the songs were either written or co-written by Horn's cousins and Curriculum band members Wyatt van Cleef and Gregory Preston Olivier, though they do not received any writing credit since Horn stole some of their songs meant for Curriculum. Some of the songs on the album were also co-produced by Curriculum member Dana Breckenridge, though he also does not receive any credit for his contribution to Horn's album.

Upon its release, the album received ambivalent mixed reviews from critics, who were unable to give it a full positive or negative review. MUSE called the album "the most polarizing LP of the year and possibly of all time".

Archibald debuted at #3 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 93,000 copies in its first week.

Background
Horn began acting in the early 1990s when he was child and temporarily put his acting career on hold in 2012 to pursue a music career. In 2013, Horn released his first self-titled EP in the United States. Shortly after the EP's release, he announced that he would be setting his sights on furthering his career in the UK and essentially the Dutch-speaking world.

Writing and production
Horn solely wrote and produced most of the album, though, for some of it, he enlisted the help of his cousins Curriculum band members Wyatt van Cleef and Gregory Preston Olivier for lyrics and another Curriculum bandmate Dana Breckenridge for production; Hilton van Cleef, brother of Wyatt, also contributed to the lyrics. Despite their help, Horn did not give the van Cleefs, Olivier, or Breckenridge credit for their contributions. Horn admitted that some of the songs on the album were stolen from Curriculum. Despite the admission, Curriculum and Hilton van Cleef stated that the songs Horn stole were songs that they did not want anyway; they also announced they would not sue Horn for him not giving them credit on his album.

Release and promotion
The album was released on March 17, 2014 in the United Kingdom, United States, the Netherlands, Belgium, and South Africa. Horn originally contemplated on releasing the album in Canada but decided not to because he felt "his career didn't matter there yet".

The album was to be released in two editions: a regular nine-track editon and an "extended" twelve-track edition. Eventually, the track listing was rearranged for its UK and US release. The originally intended extended twelve-track edition was released as a regular edition in the Netherlands, Belgium, and South Africa.

The album drew attention for not releasing a single from the album. Horn has stated that he does not and will not release a single from Archibald because he feels "he shouldn't have to because everyone releases a single from their album".

On the day the album was released, Horn performed "It's Oh So Quiet" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Critical reaction
The album received ambivalent mixed reviews from critics. Critics were unable to give a full or predominantly positive or negative review of the album, with them both praising and criticizing the album. Popshots gave the album a rating of 2.5/5 or 50% or 5/10 calling the album a "good AND bad idea" and stated that the listeners will develop a "love/hate relationship" with it. Indeed, listeners also had both positive and negative feedback for the album. MUSE also gave the album a mixed review saying that it was Horn "at his very ultimate best while simultaneously being at his very ultimate worst" while also calling it "the most polarizing LP of the year and possibly all time".

Commercial performance
Archibald debuted at #3 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 93,257 copies in its first week.

Archibald also debuted at #4 on the Dutch Albums Chart and #17 and #29 on the Belgian charts in Flanders and Wallonia, respectively.

The album has yet to chart in the United States.