UPDATED October 23

MTV News reports that the United States Department of Homeland Security has seized a hard drive containing the songs that Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and noted producer Chris Walla has been working on for his long-delayed solo album.

Walla said a courier was transporting the drive across the U.S.-Canada border when inspectors confiscated it and handed it over to Homeland Security's computer-forensics division. The Seattle-based musician said he isn't sure what the issue with his music is, but he did say the songs have a lot of political content. Whatever the case, Walla is fortunate to have versions of the songs on tape, so he can finish them even if he never gets his hard drive back.

"Luckily, the tapes are Plan B, so while I'm bummed about the whole thing, it could be a whole lot worse," he told MTV. "I still get to play music. I mean, I'm not at Guantánamo or anything like that. I mean, my drive might be. They could be water-boarding my drive for all I know."

Read the whole article here.

UPDATE: A U.S. Customs rep has commented on MTV.com's story, insisting that the seizure of the hard drive was not politically motivated. Read the whole thing here.