Maybe they just wanted an early listen. Or maybe they suspect a top-selling Northwest rock group of being a terrorist front. Either way, guitarist and producer Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie says Border Patrol guards snagged the master recording of his new solo album as a courier tried to bring it across the border from a Canadian recording studio to a Seattle-based record label.

As Walla writes on his blog, he's been told it's at "computer forensics" in Quantico, but no one can tell him what that means. A spokesman for the U.S. Customs Agency told the AP he doesn't have any information on the seizure, but is looking into it. No truth to the rumor neighbors have knocked on the windows over at Quantico yelling at them to turn down the music.

The folks over at Pitchfork are smelling a conspiracy - turns out, the album, named Field Manual is "very political" and touches on

"the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and contraception. One wonders just how a border guard might've gleaned all that from a sidelong glance at the hard drive from under the courier's arm. Scary..."

Anyways, Walla has back-up copies he's now working with, and Field Manual is scheduled for a January '08 release. Death Cab is also working on a new album. Walla has a tight Portland connection - he's produced albums for local tunesters The Decembrists and The Thermals.