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The Undertow Orchestra comprises David Bazan, Vic Chesnutt, Mark Eitzel, and Will Johnson (augmented on tour by Centro-matic’s Scott Danbom).

I’ve devoted quite a few column inches to most of these folks (in various configurations) over the years, and I wasn’t surprised when my editor at Avoid Peril passed on a review of the show. But listening to Undertow Orchestra was such a magical way to spend a Valentine’s Day evening — and the performers confounded my expectations so much — that I wanted to give it a little mention.

The first big surprise was how much these gentlemen sounded like a bona fide band. Individually, they’re all known primarily as guitar players. But the trick is that many of them have recorded entire albums on their own, and are commendable switch-hitters. Chesnutt held down the bottom end for the evening. Bazan and Johnson traded off on drums/electric guitar, and Eitzel played acoustic guitar. Johnson was an adequate, if not imaginative, time keeper, but Bazan truly impressed — he might actually be a better drummer than he is a guitar player. For guys who are all used to taking center stage, they were remarkably good at backing each other up, and the harmonies were a treat throughout the night.

The second surprise was what cut-ups they collectively were. The four have all penned some pretty dour material (although not exclusively so). The three performers I’ve had the pleasure of seeing before have shown humor on stage, but together they took each other to a new level. I get the impression that Chesnutt and Eitzel may be a raunchifying influence on the other two — much of the stage patter focused on Chesnutt’s gig-long quest for a “fattie.”

My third takeaway is that we really have to get the Republicans out of office — for many reasons I’ve discussed at length elsewhere, but also because they’re having a bad effect on our artists. Chesnutt’s new song “Iraq,” sung from the perspective of Uncle Sam having his way with a personified nation-state, might have been successful as a political diatribe, but if Chesnutt is pissed-off enough that he has to write songs like that, he has less time to write the songs that made him a songwriter of note to start with.

I’m a fortnight late with this review, but if you hustle over to Bradley’s Almanac you might be able to get a taste of what I’m fussing about.

I’ve written about Bazan’s band Pedro the Lion, Vic Chesnutt, and Mark Eitzel previously. I haven’t written about Johnson, but songs like “The Mighty Midshipman” and “Flashes and Cables” earned him instant “Most Favored Indie Rocker” status when I belatedly discovered his music a year or two ago, and based on what I’ve already heard, the new Centro-Matic record has a virtual lock on my best-of 2006 list.

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