Horizons (Kris Allen album)

Horizons is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Kris Allen. It was released on August 12, 2014, by Allen's independent label, DogBear Records. Allen also organized a Stageit show as a release party for the record where he performed the full album set and also a song called Unique. A portion of the proceeds from the album go to benefit Music Empowers Foundation.

Background
Allen was dropped by RCA Records in 2012, after releasing two albums - Kris Allen (2009) and Thank You Camellia (2012) - through the label. He released Horizons independently through his own label, DogBear Records.

As a result of an accident which broke his wrist, Allen had to change his approach to music making for this album, in particular he began to use a finger-picking style of guitar playing. According to Allen, "it’s a different way to play and some of those songs were written when my hand was in a cast so all I had was my fingers. I think it made me a bit more melodic than just strumming a bunch of chords." He sought out the producer Charlie Peacock to produce his album. Peacock introduced Allen to a number of people, including Lenachka with whom he recorded "Prove It to You". "Prove It to You" was released as the lead single from the album on July 7, 2014.

Commercial performance
The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 80 with 4,000 copies sold for the week in the US.

Personnel

 * Kris Allen – vocals, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, beat boxing
 * Charlie Peacock – keyboards, acoustic piano, programming, percussion
 * K.S. Rhoads – acoustic piano
 * Andrew St. Marie – acoustic piano
 * Cody Fry – programming, backing vocals
 * James Sweeting – programming, handclaps
 * Jerry McPherson – electric guitars
 * Andy Leftwich – mandolin, fiddle
 * Mark Hill – electric bass
 * Evan Hutchings – drums
 * Sam Ashworth – percussion, handclaps, sounds, backing vocals
 * Ken Lewis – percussion
 * Lenachka – vocals (2)

Production

 * Charlie Peacock – producer, additional engineer
 * Richie Biggs – engineer, mixing, mastering
 * Sam Ashworth – additional engineer
 * James Sweeting – additional engineer, production coordinator
 * Richard Dodd – mastering
 * Brenton Little – design, photography
 * Lindsay McCall – management
 * Stirling McIIwaine – management