Last year Ray “Castanets” Raposa, joined the upper ranks of DIY singer-songwriters by releasing his third straight near-perfect LP, In the Vines, a spooky, strange collection of songs that has critics calling him the “natural progression of Tom Waits and Michael Hurley.”

Raposa lives the here-and-there nomad lifestyle, moving from place to place — knowledge, growth and human relationships his only tender. Currently, Raposa is squatting in Indianapolis on a brief house-sitting stint for a friend. Lucky us.

“I’m in Indy by virtue of good fortune and the grace of summer winds,” he recently told NUVO, assuring us that he’ll soon be on his way. “I’m not going East. [I’ll be going] West somewhere for a bit then doing a European tour in September. I might camp out on the rooftops of Chicago for a month or go to Portland. It’s all up in the air.”

Following Raposa’s September tour, he’ll crisscross the U.S. in support of his next album, City of Refuge, scheduled for an Oct. 7 release on Asthmatic Kitty Records.

“About a year ago I went to Nevada and got a motel for a month,” Raposa said when asked about the making of City. “I tore down a bit, tracked, then built back up. Like a sweat lodge, but for a month — and with Coors Light and Cuervo.”