Rolling Stone's Artists to Watch: The Rockers and Rappers Who Will Dominate 2007

This unsigned atlanta band is at the center of a major-label bidding war that threatens to get even more heated after the ensemble — led by precocious singer-songwriter Andy Hull — finishes touring with emo heavyweights Brand New and Saves the Day this spring. Hull, 20, who started playing under the name Manchester Orchestra two years ago when he was just seventeen, is in no hurry to sign a big deal. He's releasing the band's debut album, I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child, on his own Favorite Gentleman label, and, for now, he's focused on a simple — albeit ambitious — goal of playing 250 shows this year.

THE FORMULA (Death Cab x Bright Eyes) - Record Deal = Manchester Orchestra

SOUND Lavishly moody indie rock that ought to appeal to fans of Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse and Bright Eyes. The "orchestra" part of the name isn't entirely misleading: Though Hull and his crew stick to traditional rock instrumentation, songs such as "Where Have You Been?" "I Can Barely Breathe" and "Alice and Interiors" are expansive in scope and rich in texture even while remaining lyrically focused on small moments of revelation.

MUST-HAVE TRACK "The Neighborhood Is Bleeding"
A sweet ditty that sheds the album's gray veil and echoes early Death Cab

MAMA SAID Not only did Hull's parents let him skip his last year of high school so that he could concentrate on music, but it's his mother who hipped him to Death Cab, Neutral Milk Hotel and Radiohead. "She's a writer and has always been introducing me to different forms of art," Hull says. "She's my favorite person. When I was fifteen, she dropped me off outside the Cotton Club [in Atlanta] to see Death Cab and the Dismemberment Plan. It was like a whole new world for me to hear this indie music that had all the pop elements and catchy hooks but was talking about stuff that was important." JENNY ELISCU

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