Following the recent publication of a report on the true environmental cost of vinyl, it's clear that many manufacturers could be doing a lot more to reduce the carbon footprint of their products.

Founded in 2022, the UK's NAKED Record Club has been at the forefront of the drive to make the most eco-friendly vinyl possible. The use of non-toxic and widely recyclable PET plastic instead of PVC is becoming more commonplace in the record industry these days, but NAKED has gone further.

Their vinyl pressing method – which uses injection-moulding rather than a steam-heated press – is estimated to use vastly less electricity, and all their sleeves and packaging are made with certified non-toxic, plastic-free, and recyclable materials. Even their deliveries are made as greenly as possible.

All that makes them ideal partners for a new and exclusive release from The Cure, containing their first new material in 16 years. Arriving 1 October, The Cure – Novembre: Live in France 2022 is made up of two songs that debuted on the band's Shows of a Lost World tour: "And Nothing is Forever" and "I Can Never Say Goodbye", recorded in Montpellier and Toulouse, respectively.

Bandleader Robert Smith has been speaking out on climate issues for years, and, on Earth Day 2023, teamed up with Scottish band CHVRCHES to release a new version of their song "How Not to Drown" pressed on biovinyl. Like that release, net profits made on the new 12" vinyl release will be donated to the Brian Eno-founded climate charity Earth Percent.

What makes this story even sweeter is that the whole thing came about through an interview with Record Collector, in which NAKED Record Club co-founder Simon Parker said "We'd give our body parts away to release anything by The Cure," which was then brought to Smith's attention via a tweet from The Cure's Italian fan club.

In a press release, Parker says that discovering The Head on the Door showed him "a different way to live," adding:

“My love of The Cure gave me the confidence to quit my dreary hometown in search of a band hellbent on indie-rock glories of their own, and one way or another I have worked in music ever since. So, when Robert Smith told me he wanted to work with NAKED Record Club on an eco-release for Earth Percent to raise climate change awareness in the music industry, I was astonished, excited and dumbstruck in equal measures. To make matters even more surreal, I was at the Montpellier show where one side of this exclusive 12” single was recorded. So that’s me clapping and shouting in the run out of ‘And Nothing Is Forever’!”

NAKED will press 5,000 copies of the 12", with 100 records signed by Robert Smith available via The Cure's official website. The other 4,900 copies will be sold exclusively through the NAKED Record Club store. They go on sale tomorrow (30 August) at 9am ET.

Watch some fan-shot footage of the songs below: