  We describe fluctuating two-dimensional metallic antiferromagnets by
transforming to a rotating reference frame in which the electron spin
polarization is measured by its projections along the local antiferromagnetic
order. This leads to a gauge-theoretic description of an `algebraic charge
liquid' involving spinless fermions and a spin S=1/2 complex scalar. We propose
a phenomenological effective lattice Hamiltonian which describes the binding of
these particles into gauge-neutral, electron-like excitations, and describe its
implications for the electron spectral function across the entire Brillouin
zone. We discuss connections of our results to photoemission experiments in the
pseudogap regime of the cuprate superconductors.
