Yowzers is the third studio album by American cornetist Ben LaMar Gay. It was released on June 6, 2025, via International Anthem in LP, CD and digital formats.
The recording for the album occurred at Palisade Studios and International Anthem Studios in Chicago. The album was produced by Gay and received instrumentation contributions from Tommaso Moretti, Will Faber, Matthew Davis, and Rob Frye, in addition to vocalists Tramaine Parker, Ugochi Nwaogwugwu, and Ayanna Woods.
It was preceded by Gay's 2018 debut project, Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun, and his 2021 second album, Open Arms to Open Us. Gay stated about the title in an interview with Uncut that it was derived from "the sound of my internal shout and sigh" and "a playful sound that reminds me of the rebelliousness of joy and the wild adventure of trying to reach its centre." On April 22, 2025, the title track was released as the first single.
Louis Pattison of Uncut described the album as "a rich and emotional record that is simultaneously steeped in tradition but utterly contemporary; avant-garde in approach, but conducted with the lively enthusiasm of a front-porch jam," rating it eight out of ten. Andy Cowan of Mojo rated it four stars and remarked, "It's idiomatic of the restless playfulness of Yowzers, an unpredictable album, largely crafted in the round with his multi-tasking band."
Writing for the Quietus, Antonio Poscic remarked, "While the variety of styles and approaches on display is mesmerising if not dizzying, the cuts on Yowzers feel as if they truly belong together, connected by an intangible thread â a sensibility which eclipses pure aesthetics and bridges concepts, worlds, and compositions across boundaries."
Credits adapted from Bandcamp.