Mortal City is Dar Williams' second album, released in January 1996 by Razor & Tie. The songs "As Cool as I Am" and "The Christians and the Pagans" were released as singles in 1996; the former was also accompanied by a music video. Unlike Williams' previous album, The Honesty Room, which was entirely acoustic, Mortal City featured electric backup on a number of the album's songs, particularly "The Ocean" and "The Blessings". Joan Baez covered the song "February" on the album Gone from Danger.