diff --git a/src/backend/memory.js b/src/backend/memory.js
index 688c9194..d5a43acd 100644
--- a/src/backend/memory.js
+++ b/src/backend/memory.js
@@ -84,10 +84,11 @@ this.recline.Backend = this.recline.Backend || {};
       var dfd = $.Deferred();
       results = this.datasets[model.id].documents;
       // not complete sorting!
-      _.each(queryObj.sort, function(item) {
+      _.each(queryObj.sort, function(sortObj) {
+        var fieldName = _.keys(sortObj)[0];
         results = _.sortBy(results, function(doc) {
-          var _out = doc[item[0]];
-          return (item[1] == 'asc') ? _out : -1*_out;
+          var _out = doc[fieldName];
+          return (sortObj[fieldName].order == 'asc') ? _out : -1*_out;
         });
       });
       var results = results.slice(start, start+numRows);
diff --git a/src/view-grid.js b/src/view-grid.js
index feb02b85..3ab4b6fe 100644
--- a/src/view-grid.js
+++ b/src/view-grid.js
@@ -140,11 +140,9 @@ my.DataGrid = Backbone.View.extend({
   },
 
   setColumnSort: function(order) {
-    this.model.query({
-      sort: [
-        [this.state.currentColumn, order]
-      ]
-    });
+    var sort = [{}];
+    sort[0][this.state.currentColumn] = {order: order};
+    this.model.query({sort: sort});
   },
   
   hideColumn: function() {
diff --git a/test/backend.test.js b/test/backend.test.js
index f071085f..7ba2e913 100644
--- a/test/backend.test.js
+++ b/test/backend.test.js
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ test('Memory Backend: query sort', function () {
   var data = dataset.backend.datasets[memoryData.metadata.id];
   var queryObj = {
     sort: [
-      ['y', 'desc']
+      {'y': {order: 'desc'}}
     ]
   };
   dataset.query(queryObj).then(function(docs) {