totem randomly fails to build [error: Package `Totem-1.0' not found in specified Vala API directories or GObject-Introspection]

totem randomly fails to build:

FAILED: src/plugins/zeitgeist-dp/totem-zeitgeist-dp-plugin@sha/totem-zeitgeist-dp-plugin.c src/plugins/zeitgeist-dp/totem-zeitgeist-dp-plugin.h src/plugins/zeitgeist-dp/totem-zeitgeist-dp-plugin.vapi
valac -C --debug --pkg zeitgeist-2.0 --pkg libpeas-1.0 --pkg gtk+-3.0 --pkg clutter-gtk-1.0 -d src/plugins/zeitgeist-dp/totem-zeitgeist-dp-plugin@sha --library=totem-zeitgeist-dp-plugin -H src/plugins/zeitgeist-dp/totem-zeitgeist-dp-plugin.h --vapi ../totem-zeitgeist-dp-plugin.vapi --girdir=/home/dan/git/totem/build/src --pkg=Totem-1.0 ../src/plugins/zeitgeist-dp/bacon-video.vapi ../src/plugins/zeitgeist-dp/totem-zeitgeist-dp-plugin.vala
error: Package `Totem-1.0' not found in specified Vala API directories or GObject-Introspection GIR directories
Compilation failed: 1 error(s), 0 warning(s)

WORKAROUNDS:
Avoid parallel builds: ninja -j1
or just keep retrying:
  ninja
  ninja
  ninja
and it will succeed after a few.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
Package: totem 3.25.90.1-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.12.0-11.12-generic 4.12.5
Uname: Linux 4.12.0-11-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.6-0ubuntu6
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Aug 21 16:38:16 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-05-03 (110 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Alpha amd64 (20170502)
SourcePackage: totem
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)