Gotye is having trouble finishing his new album.

The singer-songwriter has begun work on the follow-up to his successful 2011 album Making Mirrors - which included the worldwide mega hit "Somebody That I Used to Know" - but has hit a "hurdle" and says it could be a while before fans hear the results.

Gotye - real name Wally De Backer - told website FasterLouder.com.au, "I've started a bunch of ideas that I really like, but I just seem to have hit a bit of a hump in terms of how I'm connecting that with moving them forward into finished pieces or into songs. When I think about it, it's quite similar to the experience I had in previous years trying to make records: there are always certain bigger hurdles you hit, and you wonder whether you're actually getting anywhere, but maybe you do actually have a lot of stuff under your belt. Very broadly that's where I'm at, I'm just working away."

Gotye has been working in Calgary, Canada, with producer Nick Launay - who has produced Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Arcade Fire - in addition to Australian producer Franc Tetaz: "Lots of ideas and jams came out of [the sessions], and they're very promising, but I've struggled to find a direction for them beyond instrumental canvases ... it's nice to experiment with those things, but a lot of experiments don't necessarily work. You just don't know until you try things."