The origin of the album was the LDS Church's 2015 decision to issue controversial policy changes restricting membership of LGBTQ parents and their children. Glenn says that the album is a story of how he grappled with losing his boyfriend at the same time that he was losing his faith because of the new LDS policy on excluding queer people. As Glenn explained in a Vice interview,Sometimes I'm talking to God, but a lot of times I'm talking to my ex throughout the record. The title Excommunication is a play on words, if you look at it that way: religious excommunication, as well as communicating with my ex.While Glenn approached the album as being a traditional rock exercise in expressing heartbreak, he overlay that thematic with a second lyrical concern regarding his Church's regressive work against queer people.
