XII Alfonso, a progressive rock group from Bordeaux, France, was formed in 1988 by François Claerhout on keyboards and sound engineering, Philippe Claerhout on guitars, Stéphane Merlin on keyboards, and Laurent Sindicq on bass. Their breakthrough came in 1993 with the self-produced single "Costa Brava Coast", which gained unexpected airplay through Richard Bohringer's radio show. This led to their first album, The Lost Frontier (1996), an album-concept with Celtic influences featuring collaborations with notable musicians such as Mickey Simmonds and Dan Ar Braz, and sold over 5,000 copies. The group continued to release albums, including Odyssées (1999) and Claude Monet - Volume Un, 1883-1889 (2001).
