Although influenced more by new romantic and Britpop music, Soviet was one of several Electropop artists who surfaced in the late 1990s that popularized the sound New York promoter and DJ Larry Tee coined as electroclash.

The longest standing core member lineup consists of vocalist and songwriter Keith Ruggiero, and keyboardists Christopher Otchy, Amanda Lynn Berkowitz, and Greg Kochan.

It was difficult for him to find a band with similar interests, and so he began writing songs and recording on a Tascam 4-track tape machine with a few analog synthesizers he was able to acquire cheaply.

A mutual friend gave a demo to Christopher Otchy, who was also attending Syracuse University, and the two began to talk about forming a band.

The name Soviet was derived from Ruggiero's fondness for old Russian filmmakers such as Eisenstein, Pudovkin, and Vertov who he became familiar with in his film studies.

The album name was taken from the Russian filmmaker, Dziga Vertov, whose theory of the kino eye influenced Ruggiero whilst in film school.

In Ruggiero's words, “it’s the act of observation which leads to a new vision on creation whether it be through art, music, painting, etc.”[4] In 2001, the California imprint, Plastiq Musiq agreed to release the album.

[7] The band went on several nationwide tours, performing with acts such as Add N to X, Stereo Total, The Killers, Fischerspooner, Peaches, The Faint, Adult.

Once he started using them, he realized the instruments had “endless possibilities.” Ruggiero has admitted to being influenced by multiple artists and producers, including Steve Lillywhite, Brian Eno, John Leckie, Stephin Street, Hugh Jones, and Kraftwerk.

Their style has been described as "smooth and curvy pop songs,"[11] "combining the straight-ahead synth sound of Depeche Mode with the hooks of Disintegration-era Cure.